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Garmin Fenix3 HR In-Depth Review

Last month at CES in Las Vegas, Garmin introduced their most advanced wearable device with an optical heart rate (HR) sensor in it – the Fenix3 HR. This device took Garmin’s Elevate optical HR sensor and added it to their hugely successful Fenix3 watch, which has become Garmin’s most advanced watch for multisport athletes (seemingly surpassing the higher end Epix along the way with new features).

I’ve been using a few different versions of the Fenix3 HR since that timeframe. However, this review is shaped on runs/rides/activities since the unit started shipping about three weeks ago. As such, it’s a final production device with the final firmware on it. Like always, once I’m done with this review I’ll wrap it back up and ship it back to the Garmin folks in Olathe, Kansas.

Within this period I’ve used the device virtually 24×7, attempting to understand all its ins and outs. I’ve taken it running, swimming, cycling, skiing, and done general gym workouts as well. Plus of course just using it as a day to day smartwatch. Based on that, I’ve got a pretty good grasp on how well it works (and where it stumbles).

However – I’m doing something a bit different with this review. Specifically, I’m just focusing on a few core features of the Fenix3 HR that are different from the Fenix3 that I’ve already reviewed. That’s because the Fenix3 has a massive feature set. Realistically there are hundreds of features in the unit, all of which would take months to review again in full-depth. And realistically, 99% of those haven’t changed since the first edition. So rather than you have to wait till spring to tell you what you already know, I’m just going to focus on the new stuff. If you’re looking for some of the basics around how the Fenix3 works in general, swing on over to my existing Fenix3 In-Depth Review.

Sound good? Let’s get cooking!

Unboxing:

First up, we’ve got to get this thing unboxed. Thankfully, that’s a rather simple process.

Starting with the charging clip, it’s very similar to the existing charging clip for the original Fenix3:

The difference though is that you’ll see a slight chunk taken out of the middle of it, which is where the optical sensor sprouts out of the watch.

That said, in a pinch, you can actually use the original Fenix3 charging cable, just don’t snap in both sides (kinda leave it alone sitting there). Inversely, you can easily use the Fenix3 HR cable with a regular Fenix3. There’s also the small wall adapter. Or, you can just plug it into any USB port you find and it’ll happily charge.

Last up you’ve got the watch itself. Basically, it looks just like the original Fenix3 from the front, but has the tell-tale optical HR sensor bump on the back.

Note that the Fenix3 HR comes in a few different strap variants. This review includes the regular strap, but there’s also a leather strap available. You can use pretty much any Fenix3 strap you’d like though, assuming it doesn’t block the optical sensor (more on that later).

Size & Weight Comparisons:

For the most part, the Fenix3 HR isn’t really that much different from the regular Fenix3. The exterior front-facing shell is identical. So much so that outside of some very subtle style tweaks to the front, you’d be unable to tell the difference apart unless you really knew what to look for.

Of course the real changes are on the back of the unit – which houses the optical HR sensor. It’s here that you find the small sensor bump.

This sensor bump is no different than that found on the FR235, Vivosmart HR, and Vivoactive HR – all of which contain Garmin’s Elevate sensor.

It’s a small bump that I honestly don’t feel at all, since that portion of your skin is fairly soft and so for me it’s just not something that I notice. There are however a handful of people that do notice sensor bumps (from any number of companies).

When it comes to weight, it’s not terribly different there either. You can see it below coming in at 90g, versus the original Fenix3 (red variant) being 83g.

Note that depending on the exact band you place on the unit, you will get different weights or widths/textures. There are no doubt a lot of options today in that category:

However, keep in mind that you are unable to use any strap/band system that blocks the optical HR sensor (at least if you care about the HR sensor). For example, neither the fabric/nylon NATO-style straps will work (since they’d block the sensor) or the Fenix3 Quick Release Kit. Both of which block the sensor entirely. Again, you can use nylon straps, but you just won’t get optical HR readings and will want to disable the sensor and use a chest strap via ANT+ instead. Whereas the quick release kit simply won’t fit.

24×7 Optical HR Tracking:

The Fenix3 adds in the same tracking capability as other recent Garmin fitness wearables with the optical HR sensors. Meaning, if you’re familiar with those (FR235, Vivoactive HR, Vivosmart HR) – it’s almost exactly the same here.

To start, Garmin has all the standard daily activity tracking such as steps walked, distance, and so on. That’s all pretty much dial-tone baseline these days.

However, what’s new over the last few months is the 24×7 continual HR monitoring piece. This means that it leverages the optical HR sensor to track your heart rate throughout the day. It does this by turning on and off the green LED sensor at various times and then gathering your HR to record it. The unit uses the accelerometer to know how active you are. If you’re more active, it updates and records more frequently. Whereas if you’re less active (asleep), it does so far less frequently.

I wrote an entire post about this just last week in far more depth, so you may want to check that out there for more clarity on how the rest of the industry works (including Garmin). What I see though is that the Fenix3 HR acts fairly similar to how the FR235 does, and updates more frequently than the Vivosmart HR does. I just get far better battery life. About 1-2 weeks with roughly 1hr per day of GPS time (more on weekends)

However, I’m still prone to getting long multi-hour stretches without any resting HR updates. Here’s a handful of images of a few recent days that show the update rates.

All of this data is available in two spots. First is the mobile app, as seen above & below.

And then second, is on the device itself via the ‘Heart Rate’ widget, which you can access by simply pressing the up/down buttons. It’s basically like a dashboard page.

Within that page you can view the last four-hour graphical history, as well as a 7-day rolling history, which shows you the average RHR too (seen a few photos up).

For the most part, despite the lower recording rates while I’m asleep or semi-inactive (such as typing like this), it does seem to get my RHR metrics in the right ballpark. Typically for me my resting HR is in that 39bpm-42bpm range, and it seems to mostly be correct there.

Next, it’s worthwhile point out that the Fenix3 HR also adds in Intensity Minutes, which was also added to the original Fenix3 back in January. Intensity Minutes is a new metric that Garmin added this past fall to other wearables that aims to track your total weekly exercise efforts. This is based around the 5 days by 30-minute guidance that many heath organizations recommend. So in this case, Garmin just totals it as 150 minutes of exercise per week – and then allows you to mix and match however you see fit.

You can also edit the amount as well, as seen below.

You’ll also see this on the watch itself, however by default the widget is in the ‘hidden’ state, so you’ll just need to enable it.

For most serious athletes who are looking at the Fenix3, they’ll likely hit this without too much thinking – which is probably why Garmin doesn’t show the screen by default. However, if you’re more of a casual athlete, then the 150 minutes guidance is a great goal to try and hit each week and is something that’s fairly achievable. Note that you don’t need to kill yourself on these workouts to count – so don’t fret too much there.

Optical HR in Workouts:

Now that we’ve covered the portion of the day where you’re not working out – let’s dive into the workout aspects. Like the 24×7 pieces, these too leverage the same HR sensor as other recent Garmin wearable products – so there isn’t a huge degree of hardware difference. However, there are some minor differences. Further, there is a bit more flexibility in battery than that of the other battery-constrained units (i.e. the Vivosmart HR).

The first thing to know is that the optical HR sensor isn’t enabled in all activities. Rather, only ones in which Garmin believes accuracy is high enough to be usable. So for example, it’s enabled in running and cycling – but not in swimming activities. For activities that it’s disabled in, you’ll need to leverage an ANT+ heart rate strap (and more on that later for swimming).

You can always disable the optical HR sensor on your own accord though, via the sensors menu. Think of it like a permanently paired sensor. You can choose when or whether it’s enabled.

When you start a workout, it’ll start to acquire your HR. In most cases, this won’t take more than a few seconds. You want the little HR icon to illuminate a solid ‘red’ color. If it’s blinking, then it doesn’t have a (good) lock on it yet. So definitely wait until it’s happy. But again, this almost always happens in a couple seconds. In the below picture I have HR lock, but not yet satellite lock (the red circle around the outer edge).

At that point you’ll want to wait for your GPS to acquire, again, more on that in the later section on GPS accuracy. Just ensure it’s green (not orange or red), then add a bit extra time for good measure. Now, you’re ready to roll!

While working out, the optical HR sensor gives you baseline HR data no different than that of the ANT+ HR strap. You’d never know the difference from looking at the main screen, since it’s just BPM (or whichever data metric you’ve configured).

However, there are some features that are unable to use the optical HR signal fully. These are primarily due to the optical HR signal not giving enough data around heart rate variability (HRV) for these features to function.

Additionally, some Running Dynamics features require a separate accelerometer based in a chest strap (HRM-TRI or HRM-RUN) to be able to properly measure. So those ones won’t work either. Here’s what won’t work:

Some Specific Running Dynamics Metrics: Ground Contact Time Balance and Vertical Ratio (others like cadence work just fine)

Performance Condition and Stress Score

Swimming HR: Both pool and openwater will require the HRM-TRI or HRM-SWIM HR straps.

Without a HR strap, those features will not work.

Just for clarity purposes, the following DO work with the optical HR sensor over the Fenix3 HR:

Note that you won’t always trigger a VO2Max (or Lactate Threshold) result each run. For example, in my case with the Fenix3, I appear to have only triggered it four times over the last four weeks. Note that for cycling VO2Max, you also need a power meter.

I have however managed to trigger a couple of Lactate Threshold test results along the way using just the optical HR sensor of the Fenix3 (via Auto Detect). This functionality was introduced with the FR630, and was carried through into the Fenix3 HR:

In my case, I suspect the Lactate Threshold test result was still a bit high, but as we saw with the FR630, it takes a number of ‘the right workouts’ (using auto detect mode) to get the correct result. If you do a guided test, you’re far more likely to get a more accurate result upfront. As to what the ‘right workouts’ are, it’s a bit hard to know exactly – other than usually more intense workouts with a longer period in the higher intensity zone.

HR Broadcasting:

Before we talk HR accuracy, I should briefly mention that the Fenix3 HR allows you to re-broadcast your heart rate over ANT+. This means that the Fenix3 HR will take your optical HR reading and then re-transmit it so that other ANT+ capable devices, such as a Garmin Edge, can pickup your HR reading.

To enable this you’ll go into the sensor menu (which is somewhat buried), and then select ‘Broadcast HR’:

It’ll now show your current HR, and the time:

Meanwhile, if you grab something like a Garmin Edge device, you can pair it to the Fenix3 HR and receive your HR:

Note that one caveat is that you can’t see your regular activity screens in this mode, it requires you exit the broadcast mode:

You can however actually start a GPS activity first, and then enable broadcast mode. So that does work, it’s just annoying that you can’t enable the broadcast mode and perhaps have it simply turn off at the end of the session when you save the file. I note this because the Vivoactive HR does actually allow you to enable broadcast mode and not impact your ability to otherwise use the watch.

HR Accuracy:

Now it’s time to dive into whether or not the optical HR sensor is actually accurate. The short version is that I found it built fairly well on top of the optical HR sensor of the FR235, and seems to have implemented a few software tweaks since then to improve in some of the edge cases of the FR235 that caused me challenges. Note that because all of these units share the same physical optical HR sensor, we tend to see Garmin update the firmware across the board. So while it’s been 3-4 months since I tested that, it has received firmware updates since then addressed at optical HR sensor tweaks. I expect that to continue.

We’ll start with running, then talk cycling, and finally finish up swimming. Basically, a backwards triathlon. And yes, I said swimming. What? You thought I wasn’t going to at least try it?

Ok, first up is something rather easy – just a simple easy-paced run. Now it’s funny in that this particular graph makes it look far less stable than it was. That’s mostly because my HR was basically 130, +/- 3bpm. So the scale on this graph makes it look kinda jumpy, when it’s really not that variable for the majority of it.

Here’s another run that was somewhat similar, from Barcelona this past weekend. In this case, you see a bit of variation at the beginning and then they match except for one spot around the 17-minute marker. For that first portion variation, I’d guess that the chest HR strap was actually wrong there, as it was an easy run that we eased into, so it’s unlikely that I’d have spikes with the chest strap then. I also had the Apple Watch on this run, but the data from it was mostly useless in this regard.

Next, we’ve got a tempo run of sorts. This nearly hour long session has four main chunks after the warm-up, with 2×10 minutes, then 2×5 minutes, then 4xSprints. You’ll see that it generally does quite well on tracking the harder intensity tempo portions. It does have a very slightly delay when I end each tempo section though, in that there’s some lag when I go from running hard to walking. It’s more apparent in the middle sets, though it does fairly well in the last 5-minute set.

You see that during the final 4xSprints, which are basically 30 seconds long and at full-out running intensity, than things get fairly close. It managed 3 out of 4 properly, which is actually much better than I’d see on the FR235 or many other wrist based optical HR sensors. You’ll note that in another similar run, it struggled a little bit on these. So sometimes it’s going to vary.

(Side note: There actually was a 3rd HR sensor on this graph, the Apple Watch. However the track was so horribly wrong that it distracted from the graph, but you can find the same run in the Apple Watch review, should you wish to see it.)

Here’s another tempo-ish run of sorts. It increases intensity over the first 30 minutes, then I do 3 different interval chunks of increasing intensities. In general, the unit tracked very well on the bulk of this. At the beginning, I see variations between the three units. I’m honestly not sure which track would be right. It wasn’t the Apple Watch, but it could have been either the Fenix3 HR or the HR strap. This is one of those examples where in low temperatures chest straps can struggle a bit.

You also see that slight delay at the end of a hard set, as well as being a bit short during the 30-second intervals.

Next, a longer run from this past weekend. This run was split up into 10 minute chunks with varying intensities. You can see rather easily that it tracked quite well across all of these. Interestingly, at one point at the 57-minute marker while running (and not stopping) I adjusted the strap to make it tighter. For about the following minute, the unit wasn’t terribly happy about that. Lesson of the day: Don’t adjust the strap while running high cadence drills.

(Note that on this particular run I was running a beta build, in the last few minutes of the run, the unit did suffer a crash and restarted. So I’ve focused on the 1hr 25mins prior to that point. Again, it was a beta build.)

How about a switch up to cycling? This is where I’ve seen some improvement compared to the FR235 (or the Vivosmart HR). Take for example this ride, which was on the relatively smooth roads around the Spanish island of Mallorca. In this case, the unit does very well except for one brief section at about the 55ish marker. This is ironically when I was actually OFF the bike, taking a couple of quick photos before riding back home. So you can judge that failure however you see fit. My guess is that the much sharper cadence of my cycling shoes on the concrete tricked it (cadence often tricks optical HR). You see a slight delay again in the last big dip as I crested a hill and started descending, but it’s not horrible.

However, it’s not always so good. I find that the more variability I introduce into a ride, the more it struggles. For example, on this ride across the city (full of cobbles, rough roads, stop/go, etc…), it seems to have some tough times. I can’t say I’d use the sensor much in cycling when it looks like this.

To help settle this a bit, let’s go inside on a trainer for a workout. In this case you can see that it tracked fairly well across the majority of the workout. You see a few brief seconds where it momentarily separated or didn’t catch a significant shift. But otherwise, it’s fairly similar.

Thus proving that the rougher roads is really the problem here, not so much the position of cycling. So the summary there for cycling is that it’s likely OK when you’ve got smoother roads and more stable efforts. However, when you’ve got rougher roads it seems to struggle more and is less reliable.

Finally, a brief look at swimming. Yes, I had to try it out even though it’s disabled for swim mode. To track it, I simply put the watch into indoor running mode. This meant I didn’t get any swim metrics (pace/laps/distance), but I did get HR.

For my swim I wore the HRM-SWIM paired to a FR920XT on one wrist, and then the Fenix3 HR on the other wrist

I then went about my swim sets, which included 3x500m, followed by alternating 50m hard/50 meters easy. This was the result. Purple is the Fenix3HR, red is the HRM-SWIM.

For those that aren’t clear – no, it doesn’t track well. Garmin says they’re continuing to work on accuracy in the water, and if they can get it to an acceptable level, they’ll enable it for the Fenix3 HR.

GPS Accuracy:

I wanted to briefly touch on GPS accuracy within the Fenix3 HR post, despite the fact that Garmin claims no components have changed between the original Fenix3 and the Fenix3 HR.

There has been much ado in some circles about the GPS accuracy of the Fenix3, specifically (mostly) in trail environments, though occasionally in city environments. The majority of my running is in the city, though I do go out into the trails from time to time (including during this review cycle). My city is the dense concrete buildings of Paris, which aren’t quite as tall as skyscrapers of NYC, though they make up for it in tiny little one-lane streets. I also ride out of the city as well, so I’ve got plenty of non-city terrain too. For example, my recent long-weekend in the mountains of Mallorca.

Overall, I’ve seen generally good performance with the Fenix3 HR. There have been a handful of times (two specifically) where it has struggled. However, out of the 30+ days of workouts otherwise, I haven’t seen any issues. Nor has the eagle-eyed followers on my Strava account. My Fenix3 HR is setup to wirelessly sync there, so the vast majority of the time it’ll sync via WiFi well before I get out of the shower on a workout. As a result I’ll find more than enough comments from the gallery on what folks think.

A prime example being this run from a few weeks ago, where the Fenix3 HR shortly after starting went for a swim around some 8-10 story buildings. What’s interesting is you can really see it struggling the first portion until that point. So even though I had the green go on the satellite track, I only waited about 1-2 seconds before pressing start (because The Girl was giving me the Death Stare that we better get going). Normally, I’d end up waiting 20-30 seconds longer – which seems to help significantly. It’s as if the unit isn’t really quite ready yet.

Or nearby again, where it struggled the following night crossing a bridge. It’s odd, I see this little section causing pain for many GPS devices, not just the Fenix3 HR though. Perhaps it’s the taller buildings causing issues on the right side there.

However, the vast majority of the time the unit performs solidly. I’m able to zoom in on complex sections throughout many runs and find it’s tracked well or on par with the FR920XT:

One of the challenges with the Fenix3 in general is that it’s sold so well (well into the hundreds of thousands of units, if not closer to a million units). As such, you see a higher volume of discussion on it, more so than really any other unit. So even if the total ‘bad-track’ volume is the same as other watches on any given random day, then you’re going to hear more of it – just because there’s 20, 30, or perhaps 50 times more Fenix3’s out there than Suunto Ambit or Polar V800 devices. Just my two cents.

Product Comparisons:

I’ve added the Garmin Fenix3 HR to the product comparison tables, so you can mix and match any of the products I’ve reviewed to see which features they have. For the below comparison purposes, I’ve placed the Fenix3 HR next to the Fenix3 (original), and the Suunto Ambit3 Peak. But remember you can create your own product comparison table as you see fit anytime with the product comparison tool here.

And remember again, you can mix and match your own comparison chart using the product comparison tool here.

Summary:

So is it worth the extra cash over the regular Fenix3? That’s really what this all comes down to, right?

It depends a bit on how you train and what sports you use it for. For most people in running, it’ll likely do the trick most of the time. There are certain pieces that lag a bit, but the majority of the time it’s good. Meanwhile, for cycling it’s going to depend on the road conditions a bit. I’d probably just use a HR strap there for now. And lastly, for swimming, it’s not yet enabled – so you’d need a strap anyway if you wanted swimming HR. Do keep in mind that if you use a quick release kit today with a FR920XT or Fenix3, then this won’t work with that. But if you step away from the typical swim/bike/run triathlete realm that this multi-sport device is designed for, and instead focus on a less intense athlete – then it’s likely to fit the bill rather well.

The 24×7 piece, while it could use some more tweaking, is getting there. I just wish they’d allow me to control the rate of optical HR update (and thus battery burn) to get a bit more accurate data at rest (sitting or sleeping).

As for the rest of the watch, Garmin has added boatloads of small features to the Fenix3 lineup over the past year. None of which are earth-shattering, but many are appealing to specific niche requirements that folks have had. And in the process, they are burying Suunto and Polar in terms of the feature arms race. Some might argue however that at times, that arms race has led Garmin to introduce more bugs than their competitors. And that’s likely true. However, I’d also wager that the vast majority of the bugs tend not to impact everyone (or even 1-2% of everyone). Additionally, their semi-new open beta program has helped to keep those bugs for the people that love being on the bleeding edge (and providing feedback).

Overall, it’s pretty hard to beat the Fenix3 series, HR or otherwise, in today’s high-end GPS watch market. On the flip side, one can buy more reliable 3rd party optical HR sensors for less than the added cost between the Fenix3 HR and the base Fenix3. It then really comes down to a choice between accuracy and convenience (and 24×7 HR monitoring value).

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Once you disable the optical HR, you’re in the same league as the Fenix3. I haven’t done a 16-hr GPS activity with optical enabled though.

Part of the challenge in doing such a test is that if I just ran the optical HR sensor as I went about my day for 16 hours, it would place an unusual stress on the GPS chipset because I’d be indoors. When it has a hard time finding GPS, it increases power (thus reducing battery).

During the Dolomiti di Brenta trail in Italy on the 9th. of September 2017 it lasted 11.3 hours. At a distance of 48.5 km and about 2850 mtr of climbing I got the warning message of a low power battery. So I saved te run a couple of km’s before the finish in order not to lose the entire recording.

Thanks for yet another great review Ray. But I don’t quite agree with your closing remark. You make it sound like non-HR Fenix3 + e.g. RHYTHM+ = F3HR. But you’d be missing all the 24/7 HR tracking. Very sad, said the Fenix3 owner.

BTW. The 8 hour battery life of the Scosche, limits this a bit too, even if Garmin was talked into enabling the feature on the non-HR version.

I was thinking the same thing. I really like the idea of F3HR. It’s what I thought I was waiting for. But with battery life impacted I started to consider the possibility of wearing a separate heart rate monitor for the standard F3 to pick up (I also looked into the Rhythm+). But I suspect the software of the F3 is not configured in such a way that it could do this (but maybe it could be). I’m also unaware of an optical HRM with more than 8 hours battery life. And with F3 constantly receiving a signal from a separate device the battery may be affected just as much as the built in HRM anyway.

Thus I ended up concluding the F3HR is the complete package I have been waiting for.

Awesome update. I so want to love optical HR, but I’ve yet to have a satisfying experience. I’ve tried the Scosche Rhythm+, Fitbit Charge HR and latterly the Vivosmart HR and I find it hard to trust the data. Always just too unpredictable for me compared to a chest strap – just yesterday I went on a run averaging 140bpm +/-5 for around 65% of the time, maxing at 164bpm and the vshr never went above 90bpm and gave me zero minutes of intense activity. The previous day I’d done a similar run and it was within 1 or 2bpm for much of the profile. I could live with a chest strap for activities and the oHR for non-activity monitoring if they allowed better manual adjustment to the reading frequency. I don’t doubt they’ll get there some day, but not convinced at the moment. Love my Fenix 3 and thnkfully no incentive to upgrade here for me. Can’t help wondering if the Suunto might just nail it first time, they seem to be suspiciously absent and the Ambit 3 sales must be non-existent these days unless from the bargain bin.

I have used my rhythm+ whilst sleeping to get through and my fenix 3 records (not recording an workout, just normal activity tracking) it and shows it in the all day heart rate chart of garmin connect. Obviously can’t get all day from the rhythm+ but it lasts as long as I sleep (~8hrs) so I get a decent rhr.

As an aside, I wear the rhythm+ on my ankle whilst sleeping and it doesn’t bother me at all

I think with regards to the FR920XT not getting as many updates, it is an older unit – and it’s also a cheaper unit than the Fenix3. So they’re basically betting people will pay for premium (FR920XT > Fenix3) to get additional software features. Thus far, it seems like people are.

It depends. For some people, they don’t mind having a watch on their person the entire race. So for them, sure, it’ll work.

Note if you want to gather HR data during the swim (I don’t think it’s that valuable, but some might), then you’d need a strap anyway. In which case, you’re probably looking at the quick release…so at that point I’d just save the cash and get the original (albeit at the cost of 24×7).

Hmm, i sure hope they provide a quick release kit for this one too.. :-) We spend enough -early adoptor- cash on perks like the Fenix 3 HR to deserve full triathlon capabilities.

i’ve got it on me for one day now and compared to the TomTom Spark2.. the wrist strap is definitely better on TomTom for smaller/slimmer arms :-( . The ‘closing mechanism’ is really pinned into my arm wheres the TomTom strap is far more elegant/slimmer/easier on the skin. Apart from that & being more bulky.. it’s looks like the great device you reviewed about here. Thanks for that!

On the topic of using this for a triathlon… I am currently using a 910 XT and pairing it to a Mio wrist based HR monitor (I was waiting for the 920xt to come out with a HR option but still no luck there). I turn my heart rate monitor on before the event starts (don’t get any hr data during the swim but i don’t have to fiddle with turning the HR monitor on in transition, i just go, and it lasts through a half IM). I do not take my watch off during a tri (I use a separate garmin bike computer on the bike) so the quick release strap is not an issue for me. what i am concerned about is how I will get HR data during a tri? Will i have to stop in T1 to turn on the HR function for the bike/run portions? Will I be able to see my HR on my garmin edge 800 during the bike portion? (In the review you talked about having to enable broadcast mode to see HR on your bike computer-but then you don’t see your normal screens on your watch, but obviously i wouldn’t want to do that in T1 either, then have to turn it off in T2 so I can see my normal run screens). This is getting a little confusing on how it would work for a tri? I had high hopes to get rid of 2 straps (watch and HR monitor) on my wrist, but it kind of seems like this watch just won’t work for a triathlon to get HR data for the bike (on both watch and edge 800) and on the run on the watch without having to do anything extra in transition?

No, I didn’t see it there. Mio was in a bit of a ‘shared’ booth with other Canadian companies, but I didn’t see a rep handy when I swung by. So in many of these shared booths, it’s kinda like a desk/table at an airport. It’s yours, until you leave the chair – then it’s someone else’s. Mostly for ad-hoc meetings.

Since I’m tracking my daily calories with myFitnesspal for loss/maintenance (had bad nutrition habits), this would be an interesting 24×7 HR monitoring aspect to see – as in how close are calculated BMR calorie values vs. monitored ones and if using such monitoring would actually give a better total picture.

An in depth post on calorie calculation both in and out would be very useful. As I understand food manufacturers are allowed error rates of up to 20% on food labels (source: Novotny, J.A., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1 Aug 2012); 96(2): 296–301) and from experience I know calculations of calories used can vary wildly from one sports manufacturer or service to another. Meaning anyone relying on calorie deficit for diet for example is potentially going to be misled by a large margin.

Hmm, good call. Maybe I’ll put together a bit of a basic overview between the two of them and add them in. There’s a lot of advanced features that are missing, but some of the core stuff is that as a triathlete, the Vivoactive HR doesn’t have a multisport mode, so you’d have to end/start each portion of the triathlon separately (and, it doesn’t have an openwater swimming mode).

Thanks for raising this question/idea. Was wondering the same thing (Vivoactive HR vs. Fenix 3 HR). Thanks for your ongoing quality reviews. Amazing how you can do it all so thoroughly. Much appreciated

I was looking specifically at being able to connect and record a power meter on the bike, and it seems that the VivoActive would only connect if someone creates a 3rd party app for it, and even then would not be recording it as part of the ride file. That looks like another difference between the two models.

Hi, I am planning to get a watch for my sport life and thinking to buy fenix 3 HR or vivoactive HR. I like both of them have 24/7 tracking. I am a very normal user and don’t do some very serious training, I only go to swimming 3 days a week and bike when the weather is good. I would love to track my indoor swimming pool performance. I am not planning to do triathlon yet. But I will start to train running this summer.

As the price is big different, you think vivoactive HR can fit everything i need? I know Fenix 3 look much better.

I think the vivoactive HR would fit your needs. The Vivoactive is simpler with fewer features but you said you’re a pretty normal user. Indoor swimming and biking would be done by both watches, and the Vivoactive (i have the first one) does both very well.

Thanks a lot for this great review. Am I understand you right the optical HR would not be the best choice for a mountain biker riding off road because the hard impacts would spoil the measurement ? So the regular strip is the best choice for offroad use? And whats about using it in a gym ?

I pre-ordered the Fenix 3 HR and I MTB around 5 days a week.. I tried the OHR of the Fenix 3 HR while using a chest strap connected to my Edge 1000 for comparison. I have a XC Full suspension bike and the jarring made the HR go all over the place.

I’m not sure if it was the jarring itself or the watch moving on my wrist (I do wear the band tight but you know how many bumps there can be on a MTB).

I have decided to wear the chest strap while MTB as it’s not really much of a hindrance anyways.

I’ve decided to just use the built-in OHR during gym workouts as it seems to track closely during my workouts.

Hi Ray, great review as always. The most exciting new feature with this and the vivoactive HR for us paddlers out there is a mode which measures stroke rate, stroke distance etc. Does this mode still record HR? I believe the swimming mode doesn’t. And anyone done any verification on how well it measures these paddling metrics? Thanks!

You wrote a little on the GPS, even though Garmin says it didnt change any components. That would be a smart thing for them to say, since it would kill off F3 sales. That said. What does your gut tell you. Does the F3HR seem to track better. In your experience that is. I”m pretty happy with F3. I’ve had some terrible tracks (like during chicago marathon), or during some 50milers. I dont get broken up on that, but I would still prefer a nice track :)

I can confirm that the semiconductor part of the GPS is exact the same on both models. They could have done some minor tweaking on the antenna but they would do that for both models. Any firmware improvements would be on both models to. So the answers would be simply be: the Fenix3HR has exact the same accuracy as the latest Fenix3 models have. The Fenix models however don’t have the best accuracy of the watches on the market today, but that’s a choice Garmin made (based upon more characteristics than only (expected) accuracy).

My gut tells me that already made changes at some point in the Fenix3 lineup, and this carried them through. However, my gut also tells me they probably made at least a few minor further tweaks here.

As for chipset models – it’s one of the least important things. Antenna position/design and chipset (and watch) firmware have repeatedly proven themselves to be the most important factors in GPS performance. It’s just that everyone wants to use the ‘easy button’ reference of GPS chipsets, when in reality that’s not a huge factor.

One can look at many previous Garmin watches to see that, or even Suunto – which uses the same/very similar GPS chipset between the Ambit3 Peak and Traverse/Vertical, yet, the 2nd ones have worse GPS accuracy due to new antenna position

Wih my Garmin 220 I experience a lt of probs with inaccurate strap readings. It peels of the chest, gets crazy when I sweat too much, sometimes moves. Now, if the same happens with the new strap used with Fenix HR, should I simpl revert only to the optic reading on hand? thank you!

Can you pair an external Optical HR monitor (like a scosche rhythm +) for a swim activity? Or must it be the Garmin HRM swim/tri unit? i.e. will it display real-time HR during a swim if it can pick up an ANT+ signal?

I’m looking for an upgrade to my Basis Peak and have been eyeing this as a proper upgrade to 24/7 hr tracking and feature set. In your opinion, would this be a good upgrade? I’m typically running, cycling, or in the gym with weights. Thanks!

Is it feasible to use the optical hr sensor for 24/7 hr recording, but then use a hrm run strap for workouts? Does it require you to disable the optical sensor and enable the strap sensor and then do the same in reverse each time you begin and end an activity? Or is there a way to set a priority or a default sensor for hr data for each activity?

Hi Nick – I have the Garmin Forerunner 235, and I do exactly what you’re describing here. I use the optical for 24/7 hr recording, but I use a HR strap for workouts. The watch detects it automatically when you chose an activity, and it will always prefer an external HR source over the built-in optical.

Hey, thank you very much for the review that was ver good, I do have a question, and sorry to drag on the whole swimming hrm thing but I’m still curious, as it is not enabled during swims, how does it look on the 24hrs hr monitoring? do you see a gap during say an hour swim or does it continue to record separately from the activity? say like it does with step counting (it keeps adding steps during swim activities). Do you see a spike in your daily heart rate monitoring due to a swim or a gap?

One this that really annoys me on the Fenix3, is the music control. It can only control the native Music app on iOS. Not your favourite streaming service.. And it lacks the volume. The good folks at Garmin said it someting to do with BLE vs regular BT, when I argued that my old Pebble does it just fine…. Don’t quite get how the new version BT can do less…

Thanks for another great review! As someone who doesn’t wear a heart rate strap, I’m enjoying the F3HR so far – feel like I’m getting pretty much the same battery life as I did on F3 and GPS is definitely locking faster for me. A few questions:

– You mention that ‘outside of some very subtle style tweaks to the front…’ – I haven’t noticed any but can you describe what you’ve observed? – On Running Dynamics, I’m actually showing Stride Length – Do you know how to access VO2m data? I see it popup at the end of a run if I have a new high, but then can’t find a history of it. – Cool on the Lactate Threshold! How do you set it to Auto Detect (or do a manual test for that matter)?

RE: Style tweaks: You can see little things like the strap has a very subtlety different pattern, the watch-face has different markers. You can use this picture to compare side by side and see the few tweaks: link to dcrainmaker.com

Great review Ray! But a little confused now so, your opinion is to buy the F3 without OHR or with and would be helpful for triathlon or should I check something else or wait for something else? I am not looking for a specific answer but your opinion in general with the watches exist now let’s for a multipurpose sports what would be your order in watches from 1 to 5 for example

OK, I see. Yes, the strap is different (and I actually find the F3 strap to be ‘cooler’ due to the larger/more holes). I attributed the dial markings to be a function of the sapphire version (same as before).

Thanks for checking on stride length – checked again on more recent runs and still have it!

Great review thank you…I’m currently a vivoactive owner and a FR 225, but I DID have a Fenix2SE which I returned when the Bluetooth simply fell over and wouldnt get back up. My question is about navigation, I want to set uup routes and then follow then via the app…but I don’t think *anyone* has really nailed this in a wrist-worn form factor —is that fair? Is the orig Fenix3 the best I will get with that for the time being…?? If so I might wait and get the Fenix3HR to get HR and nav in one device…

Also, I used bikehike to create routes, and with the “follow road” in Google maps feature, the Fenix2 would buzz with a change in direction every few steps – was this because it was detecting many little course points in the GPX file?? and therefore when creating a route, should I be a bit more careful in when I put my course points, so that I only get a BUZZ when i actually need to change direction (rather than just following the curve of the street?) and therefore NOT “follow roads”??

In summary, one clever soul has created an app that takes a .tcx file (in my case from http://www.ridewithgps.com) converts it into .fit file which you upload onto your Fenix3 and access it from Navigation -> Courses for turn-by-turn navigation. It works very well!

On GPS accuracy: My Fenix was BY FAR the worst GPS I ever owned (starting with MotoACTV way back when, plus I own(ed) 1/2 dozen Garmins). Thank you REI for letting me return it. The most comprehensive test I know of also shows terrible results (link to fellrnr.com). As do generally all MediaTek devices. For me, it was useless. Sorry.

On price: $599? No.

If they switched back to SirfStar and made it $350-400, I’d most certainly go for it. Too bad.

Couldn’t agree more. The Fenix lineup continues to disappoint on GPS accuracy. The Fenix 3HR manages to lower the bar even further (is this even really possible?) I test everything on the market, and the 3HR is unsurpassed in underachievement. Sad, as I thought Garmin had made forward strides with the 235 which tracks surpringly well with the Ambit 3 and V800, both of which are excellent.

It’s not only a question of 24h HR – optical sensor can be also used in some activities to provide reasonably enough data.

Battery life is almost the same (once your disable an optical sensor). Style options… Yes. Although F3HR is just launching so I think that they will add more options for it later. And you can install a different strap easily (ones that don’t block the sensor). Cost… Yes, this is the main thing.

Thanks as always for the amazing review, Ray. Its not making my next purchase decision any easier; I’m looking for the best way to balance measuring road riding stats (200km plus per week, with power measurement coming) and 2 X basketball games a week plus walking, workouts and sleep tracking. I currently use a gen 1 Vivofit, paired with a chest strap for hoops and a 520. I’d really like to have 24×7 heart rate, and while I’m in the Apple ecosystem and the Watch appeals to me, the idea of getting the Fenix3 HR with the Run strap (that way I can leave the watch off but still measure stats) to replace all my devices is really appealing. Plus I like the idea of getting my geek on and writing an app that uses the HRM-Run data in hoops specific ways. I’ll most likely wait for the Vivoactive HR review before committing, unless you (or any of your awesome readers) have better ideas…

Thanks as always for the amazing review, Ray. Its not making my next purchase decision any easier; I’m looking for the best way to balance measuring road riding stats (200km plus per week, with power measurement coming) and 2 X basketball games a week plus walking, workouts and sleep tracking. I currently use a gen 1 Vivofit, paired with a chest strap for hoops and a 520. I’d really like to have 24×7 heart rate, and while I’m in the Apple ecosystem and the Watch appeals to me, the idea of getting the Fenix3 HR with the Run strap (that way I can leave the watch off but still measure stats) to replace all my devices is really appealing. Plus I like the idea of getting my geek on and writing an app that uses the HRM-Run data in hoops specific ways. I’ll most likely wait for the Vivoactive HR review before committing, unless you (or any of your awesome readers) have better ideas…

Gabriel from those Garmin forums it looks like this mode don’t give you stroke rate. If it don’t give you stroke rate I don see the point of it. I am actually a kayaker not a rower and I don’t normally use indoor equipment. For the outdoor mode it would be really good to see the combination of stoke rate with speed. With a stroke rate alert when it fell out of a certain range.

Hey Ray, awesome review. I wonder if you’ve had a chance to check out the rowing features on the Fenix 3 HR? Worldwide, I would think most of us rowing indoors are using a Concept 2, which gives reliable data for wattage; the rower will then give you an estimation of calories burned per hour. The calorie value from my Fenix 3 HR is about 25% lower than the Concept 2 estimation… Do you think the calorie count from the Fenix 3 HR is the more accurate one, even though it is based on the optical heart rate (which is slightly less accurate than a chest strap)? Thanks.

Thanks. Just to throw it out there for anyone interested… while indoor rowing I’m finding that generally the optical HR reported is much lower and more erratic than the data from the HR strap. Tightening or loosening the strap doesn’t seem to help. Oddly, doing a round of pushups before rowing seemed to improve the optical data, but I’m not sure if that was a fluke yet. That said, the heartrate data while running is accurate for me, and I love the fitness tracking. This is a quality piece of equipment for sure.

I noticed the REI link on your site – is there a way that you can get money from them if the watch is ordered there?

You mention that the Fenix 3HR has been in production for a few weeks. I have been regularly checking Amazon, Garmin, and REI websites and they all say something to the effect that the watch ships within 30 days (Garmin says they will email you when the watch is available – I’ve not received an email). Any suggestions on how to get this watch.

REI has/had (for another 3-4 days anyway) an exclusive of on the Fenix3 HR, as such, basically every site is saying the same thing. In the case of REI, they did ship out units back earlier this month, but inventory will be rather varied. With exclusives, it doesn’t mean that they’ll have a ton of units, just that they’ll have them first.

Ray – thanks for the response – it is very helpful. One other question. I have been concerned that the apparent delay in production rates could reflect a potential quality issue with the Fenix 3 HR rather than just a shortage of parts. Has initial quality been a problem with previous Garmin products? I had an older Forerunner which was great, and I am looking forward to enjoying this product as much as I did the previous one.

Nah, low-volumes are totally normal for Garmin in the first few months. As is usually the case, Garmin overestimates when they’ll start manuf, and then retailers overestimate when and how many units Garmin will send to them. And consumers in turn translate “Q1” to “Two weeks ago”, even if there is still a month left in Q1. ;)

Contrast Issues. I bought a Garmin FR 235 and will have to return it. The contrast is not enough especially when I wear it as a daily watch. Outdoors in bright light it is fine. I still have a FR 410 and it is fine. I primarily want a GPS smartwatch that I can wear daily, with good contrast that I can add speed and cadence sensors (cadence most important). I primarily cycle (85%) . I have a Microsoft Band which I have no contrast issues but I have limited capabilities especially add on devices like cadence

Ray – got mine yesterday, and successfully used it today during my workouts. Found all of the features worked as you described, and I was very happy with the fenix 3 HR. Most notably, the fenix 3 heart rate behaved very reliably compared to an elliptical machine, and the calculated calories in Garmin Connect were very different than those that the machine reported (I believe the Garmin since they are base on Firstbeat technology). Don’t believe that I could have been as successful without reading your reviews. I am very appreciative of the value you provide to folks trying to select these devices. Best regards.

I enjoy your reviews and your all inclusive and fair approach. As a lady distance running I am trying to decide between the Fenix(r) 3HR and the Forerunner(r) 235. I have taken weeks to review features. I am concerned with the size and weight of the Fenix vs. the 235 and the battery live for long runs (50k, 100k and 100 miles). Any information on what women are saying? I have also checked the women’s page of your website. Keep up the great research that is helping us enjoy our sports.

It’s going to depend on your wrist size a bit. For The Girl (my wife), she simply finds the Fenix3 (any version) far too heavy and big for her wrists. She’s 5’2″ tall. She loves the smaller Forerunner lineup though (she currently uses a FR620).

Di – I can’t speak to the battery life for the long distances, but I am a woman who uses the Fenix 3 and I love it. It is on the heavier side, but I’ve gotten used to it. I wear it 24×7 and never notice it. I swap out the bands for cooler girlie colors. I’m a fan of the perlon straps which you can find in 24mm width, which fits this watch fine (although 26mm is technically the proper size). There is more customization with the Fenix than there is with a FR. I would go with Fenix. FWIW, I have a 6″ wrist.

Ray do you have an idea if you can adapt the bikemount from the normal F3 and use it on your arm You could make a hole and than use it But you still won’t get skin contact the question would be if it still work for 24/7 monitoring

So I am someone who has never owned a fenix 3, but I am trying to decide between the HR and the standard sapphire model, do you personally think it is worth it to get the HR version, or do the added benefits not outweigh what you would get with the standard sapphire package?

Ray, thank you for the review. Garmin customer support said that the F3HR could be worn either on the outside or on the inside of the wrist with no problems. Have you tried wearing it facing inward towards your body? If so, any issues on HR or GPS? Thanks for any info!

Either option is fine. I’ve used both and for me, I don’t notice too much of a difference in most situations. However, in general those that are on the ‘edge’ of optical HR working often find better luck with the sensor on the inside of their wrist. The softer skin means that the sensor is able to ‘dig in’ a bit deeper and reduce light. It also tends to be less hairy, and is usually slightly less tanned. Sometimes those tiny differences can be make or break for some people.

Hi Ray, great review again. Since this is a “new” garmin product. Do you think they will add in some of the newer features from other devices such as support for the varia line I.e. Rear radar and or eye piece thingamy? Or will those stay specifically for the edge devices ? Have you heard anything from Garmin regarding this.

I have a F3 and the rear radar plus eye piece would be perfect for me for cycling.

When I talked to them about it, it was something they said they were looking at and keenly aware of feedback on (for both F3 and 920xt). But that’s where things stand. Given the Vivoactive HR got support for it, I can’t imagine the watches costing 2-3x as much will be far behind.

And info from Garmin about other versions of F3HR? I’m mostly interested in a non-coated (“silver”) bezel and/or titanium band. (don’t like coated metal bezels as they are prone to scratches and I tend to use watches for more than 2-3 years)

When I asked this question, they replied that it is _currently_ available only with grey bezel, but I can leave feedback/suggestions on relevant section of their site. Which I did and would definitely ask others to do.

I was wondering if there is a cell tower near that area that is problematic with multiple GPS devices. I have noticed the only time my Fenix 3 has issues is when it is a certain distance from a cell tower. There is a cell tower that is right next to one of my running areas and I have GPS spikes in exactly the same spots in a fairly circular pattern around it. Has to be far enough away that the signal hits you but not too far. Appears to be in the 500-1200ft range from the top of the tower.

Scott… I have used the Fernix 3 for golf a good bit. Pretty much every Saturday for awhile now. The watch does not provide any swing metrics like swing speed or tempo, it just basically tells you how far you are to the front, middle, and center of the green. It has some other distance functions, like length of shot, that I do not use. I have used many GPS golf devices and I have to say this watch works fine. It does not switch over to other holes when you hit way off of the fairway and it really does not drain the battery down. A few of the Garmin golf specific watches really drain the battery fast. This is not the case with the Fenix. I like it. My golf buddies give me shit because they say I have a belt buckle on my wrist but other than that it is fine.

I’ve had very good luck with the Mio while swimming. Cinch it down snug, and place it right next to the watch (In my case, an Ambit2).

Will I be able to pair the Mio with the Fenix HR in swim mode and get real time HR? i.e. will the Fenix3 just treat the Mio as if it’s a Garmin Swim/Tri monitor? Or will it only pair with the Garmin strap when in swim mode?

Hi Ray – again another quality review however I think it seems to leave the OHR in the OK area. Do you think it is a firmware or hardware issue? Finding it difficult to justify an extra £150 for it and would like to see basemaps added too. I know the jury is out on the benefits of measuring HR whilst swimming however if the technology is there it is always great to have data (maybe it is just the data nerd in me). Hopefully in the future 24 x 7 monitoring is closer to recording data 24 x 7 and not just if you are moving.

I don’t see there is a chance we will see this review from Ray. Epix is already close to a year on the market. I use epix for around 5 months already and for my needs (triathlon, hiking, endurance MTB and 24×7 watch) it is still the best device on the market.

I’m about done with my android wear device and becoming very interested in a Garmin. My main complaint with android wear is that the Bluetooth connection keeps dropping between the watch and the phone. It’s happened with more than one android watch now. How well would you rate the Fenix 3 on this issue? Once it’s paired, does it have a consistent connection? Thanks.

And still have no idea when it will be shipped. Sc#$! Garmin and Clever Training. Garmin needs to work on both communication and execution. I definitely got hosed by going with Clever Training and will likely think twice in the future, but Garmin what is wrong with you?

Good to know! I was considering one for my birthday this month to finally replace my 310XT. I’d get it with any newer generation Garmin watch but in addition to the convenient heart rate monitoring when I want it I’m really excited about faster GPS locking here in NYC.

Ray, thank you for yet another outstanding review! I am in the market for a GPS watch for a beginner triathlete. I used the comparison feature of your site to compare the F3, F3 HR, and the 920XT. Based on this I cannot see a reason to not go with the 920XT. I have read that the screen size is limited on the 920XT, could you confirm this? Any other major reason to go with the F3, or F3 HR if not too keen on optical HR?

I need to decide between a regular fenix3 or the fenix3 hr. It all really comes down to having 24/7 HR monitoring. I am confronted with two questions:

1. Is the fenix3 HR generally too bulky to be wearing 24/7? I am a regular size guy but is it just me that finds the proposition of wearing something this bulky all day even when sleeping a bit much? This is for someone who doesn’t even wear a regular watch.

2. Is 24/7 HR monitoring absolutely necessary? What actionable insights can you get from such data? I have read Rays HR article. Need to read it again. But really, why do I need to know my heart rate 24/7? Also if it’s that necessary, can that data be gathered over a period ( say a week) using the regular garmin and a scosche+

1. Try it and see if you like it. Most retailers have 2 week type return/exchange policies. The Vivoactive HR will be a lot lighter so that might be an option as well. Of course, from reading other posts in this thread, it’s going to be a long wait for these watches. I want one now. 2. Need is too strong of a word. It’s nice to have it as an option and it does not add very much weight. I’m not sure how much heart data matters as everyone is different.

Victor, I never wore a watch before getting my fenix 2 I wore it most of the time after getting my vivoactive I wore that one 24/7 so I didn’t know if I would be able to wear the fenix3 HR 24/7 coming from the vivoactive. I am 5’8 and weight 157 and I have been wearing this watch 24/7 with no issues. I went wit the HR version for the simple reason if I did not like the OHRM I would just turn it off I now know what my resting HR is that data going to help my training…to early to tell but one thing is certain it’s not going to hurt it. For light workouts and 24/7 for me the OHRM works real well for intense workouts I simply wear my TRI or swim strap.

My current watch is Citizen Skyhawk with metal band. Great watch, but is almost 180g. It took me several month to get used to its weight and I still sometimes remove it during the day. But, in general – not bad. So from my perspective, Fenix 3 (/HR) with its 80g is almost weightless :)

It terms of size, it will depend on your wrist. Mine is almost 19cm.

“Is 24/7 HR monitoring absolutely necessary?”

I want this as I generally have too high RHR and work on reducing it. Also had some history of heart conditions amongst my relatives, so would be useful to monitor my heart.

“over a period ( say a week) using the regular garmin and a scosche+” I thought that scosche+ has a battery live of only 7-8 hours. Garmin supports 24/7 HR only with build-in sensor (possibly, due to power consumption).

I’m looking at getting either the Fenix 3 (non optic HR) or the Suunto Ambit 3 Peak. I’m joining the military soon, so ruggedness and battery life is a must. However, I’ll also be using them for longish runs (15-20 miles), and potentially triathlons and open water swims. Which would you suggest?

Maps on Fenix series? looks like the Fenix 3 family is getting bigger and bigger with al the different models. (Basic, Sky, HR, Tactics) I am still not sure if the watch is ideal for me because one of the things i would realy love to have is some very basic local maps when running trails (area 15x15km) no pre-defined routes so i make decisions a-la minute in the field (hoping they are not dead end). Now my eye fell on the brand new Quantix 3. In pictures on the site you can clearly see screens with maps ! When looking at the specifications the line “Full Color CourseView Maps” is added. (Built-in memory unchanged)

Can you ask garmin if the maps are comming to the “normal” Fenix 3 series as well? Or do i have to buy a Quanix 3 ? (hope it will support not only nautical but also topo maps)

Thanks for the info. I’m aware of the Epix but that isn’t a sport watch anymore (size (lack of advanced hr strap support)). 90% of my time i just need a tri watch without the maps, the Fenix is 90% OK but i already have a watch that does 80% of my needs so the difference is only 10% (thats the bad luck of already having a device)

Bad news however, the picture i linked to is just a simpel garmin watch face! (downloadable in store) Not an active map or even a map streamed to the device.

Assuming we’re talking CO UK, they’ve just told me that they’re expecting to receive a large enough shipment from Garmin to cover all of their pre-orders thats due to arrive with them on Friday (10th), so deliveries made early next week

So latest update from Cotswold Outdoor UK. They told me Friday that they were in the warehouse and “picking” the order. Nothing yet so i contacted them again. They are not shipping any time soon and have no idea when they will be. They are “waiting for an update from Garmin”. Sounds like they were told not to ship them.

I’ve cancelled my order. Ill put the £500 towards the vivoactive HR as and when that makes it to market!

Here was an excerpt from my conversation with REI this morning: David: I was told on the last chat it would be sent out march 11th David: is that still true? David: or has that date moved again Monica: The shipment from Garmin to us has been delayed David: ok thank you what is the new ship date? Monica: March 17 is the expected ship date. David: thank you David: have a great day

In the US, Garmin sets MAP policies (Minimum Advertised Price), which means that unless specifically authorized (rare), retailers cannot set a different price for a product (nor offer bundles). Most major companies in the US do this as well, including GoPro, Apple, Fitbit, and basically everyone I can think of.

Ray, I vaguely recall reading some optical HR sensors will sometimes have issues with weight training. I think the particular issue was where it would not be able to read the HR during heavy lifts. I don’t believe the cause was known. This may be due to the restricted blood flow from tensed up muscles or the HR sensor itself. For those who are having to add more of weight/strenth training into their triathlon training, how would you say this F3HR holds up from that perspective? Thanks.

I’m not sure entirely. I’d bet it would hose it up, since I don’t believe Garmin is doing HRV on the optical HR sensor, but just using plain HR since they would be the first to do so. And that seems unlikely given other more established players with higher accuracy levels can’t get it right during activity yet.

Hi Ray, thanks for great reviews. I got brand new Fenix 3 HR (no added heart strap) and I was disappointed it does actually NOT measure lactate (it says HR monitor required). I noted that in you first review you said this was not available but in the ‘in-depth’ you said it was? Any idea? VO2 works BTW – and so does stride length… The SW version says 3.0, reportedly up to date… Cheers. Pavel

I thought the R-R data was required for calculating VO2 Max metrics and Recovery Advisor with the Firstbeat algorithm, so, when I saw your said in your review, these features DO work with the optical HR sensor, I was assuming Garmin somehow figured out to get HRV even during intense workout , but you believe that’s not the case? If that is true then what they figured out would be a different model to estimate VO2 Max and recovery without HRV…. That’s what you think?

I am looking to replace my original Fenix (Hiking, Running, Skiing, kayaking), my Edge 500 (road cycling and mountain biking) and VSHR (general activity tracker and am considering the Fenix 3. Part of me thinks one device to do everything… great. or is it.

Does the Fenix 3 make a good bike computer or just an OK bike computer? I know its designed for cycling, supported by Strava etc but I cant help but think a dedicated bike computer like the Edge 520 or Wahoo Elemnt might be a better option as cycling is my primary activity. I am tempted by both the Edge 520 and elements ability to navigate a predefined course with a basic map, although the chances are I would only use this functionality perhaps once a month.

I think you’ll be very unhappy if you use just a Fenix 3. Never mind that maps are now out of the question, but the form factor for a watch simply isn’t as good for cycling as a dedicated cycling device. On your wrist, you can’t really see it. On the bike, and it’s much smaller and harder to see than a cycling GPS, and can display fewer fields. (And if you get the 3 HR, then it’s on your wrist if you want it to get HR.) Like you I have a Fenix, and I replaced it with an Epix (because maps). I rarely used either for cycling, and never without also bringing my Edge 800. (They’re for hiking and cross country skiing, where they do a fine job.) As far as I know (owning neither) Fenix 3 can do (almost) everything a 520 can do, and at least one thing I know of (Tempe) that the 520 can’t, so it would work for cycling, but it’s the form factor and maps you need to thing about. The virtues of a single device are vastly overrated. If my 800 broke today, I’d use the Epix as a stopgap, but I’d be getting a 1000 as soon as I could.

Maps are not the deal breaker as use Viewranger on my phone as well as having an Oregon 600 which can be handlebar mounted if I am desperate for maps. The Oregon gets used mostly for sea kayaking BTW.

I used to use the original Fenix (Garmin handlebar mount) on my bike and never really was completely happy with it as the process of using it always felt clunky, which is why I bought the edge 500.

In theory the Oregon can also be used for cycling but last time I tried, Strava didn’t play ball with the elevation data and kept overwriting it with its own data unless I edit the files and spoofed Strava into thinking it was an edge. It also looks ridiculous mounted on the stem, way too big. Not a fan of touch screen either, it rains a lot here.

Wrist HR not an issue for cycling as I always use a heart rate strap on the bike.

The Fenix 3 would get used for hiking a fair bit and although I have GPS and detailed topo maps on my waterproof phone I am still a fan of map and compass, using a grid ref from the Fenix to back up my map and compass skills.

So that leaves me with just that unsatisfying feeling I got with the original Fenix on the bike.

Me, too. I have also received an email from Parcelforce confirming shipment with an expected delivery date of tomorrow (Thursday 10th). Much sooner than I was expecting. Looks like Cotswold was near the front of the Garmin queue somehow.

Mine arrived today from Cotswold. I also used a discount code and they honoured it. Seems amazing given it’s brand new on the market. Just getting to grips with how everything works with it. First Garmin having previously used Suunto and TomTom running watches. Impressions so far are good… Seems to do almost everything you could want…or think of.

Come on Clever Training, where’s my watch? Clearly going with Clever Training for Garmin releases is a big mistake. If they weren’t holding my money for ransom since January then I could go right now and in-person buy one (business trip to Europe). Live and learn, still got a couple weeks wait with Clever Training.

I put off buying the Fenix 3 six months ago waiting for 4. Since 4 is unlikely coming in the next 6-12 months here is my question. When the 4 comes out what do you expect it to have or what is on your wish list? I am trying to decide if waiting is worth it.

Clever Training will ship out all backorders of the Fenix3 HR bundle versions today. The base versions will arrive next week. Said differently, they’re ahead of everyone except REI with the previously noted exclusive.

Well that’s good news, I ordered a bundle – but they haven’t said anything since the last delay til March 21st email they sent me. Maybe they are a bit skittish at this point after the Garmin delays. Well, I’m hoping.

Just got notified by Amazon that the performer bundle has shipped and will be arriving tomorrow. Weird, they must have received a very limited quantity because the product page states that the item has not yet been released.

Thanks for the great review. Just a observation from using the Fenix 3HR for the last few weeks. The optical heartrate is incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes running the same pace on the treadmill I can get reading that are half of what my real heartrate is. Sometimes I use both the HRM run and the optical heartrate and it seems to add BPM to my actual heartrate. I have tried wearing it tighter and looser. Shaving my wrist to have the sensor on bare skin. Nothing has increased the accuracy of the optical sensor. Is there an update coming or any advice on how to increase the accuracy of optical HR.

What do you mean you use both? Two different watches? I thought it uses one or the other? I think after this many delays there is likely no way I will be satisfied, but ‘sunk costs’ at this point. I’m invested :)

Anyone know how to change the colour on the clock (watchface) so the minutes and hours can be different. (the non HR fenix 3 gave you a range of colours to choose from, mine was set to green, this one seems to be only able to change the backgrpound colour)

Also the HR widget seems to track HR very inaccurately compared to when tracking HR when doing an activity, is the sampling/algorithm different in the widget (maybe to save battery).

One final question if I may: I just swapped my 920xt for a fenix 3 hr and discovered two more steps back beyond the shorter battery life and the lack of quick release kit which I already knew about and are not an issue for me. They are (a) no di2 support, which has been “coming in update” since March 2015 (b) no key shortcut for power meter calibration.

Hmm, I’ve got an e-mail thread already going on various electronic shifting stuff with Garmin, so once I get back a response on my most recent question, I’ll ask them about F3HR support and then toss in the shortcut key one while I’m at it.

I bought the F3 OHR as well, so far so good! The watch is very stable and I find the optical HR to be very accurate during an activity. A very compelling package as a whole.

What I am not so happy about is the complete lack of attention from Garmin- I have not seen a single update for their new watch. I am told that F3 OHR and the regular F3 are not similar enough to have common betas/regular updates.

This would also mean that there are no betas for the watch, which I find very disappointing. I am sending it back the moment I see this being a second Epix.

“Garmin is currently working on updates for the fenix 3 HR. We do not currently have an ETA, but it is coming soon. The fenix 3 HR will also have a beta path just as the fenix 3 does now. Once started, the fenix 3 HR should start getting updates at the same rate as the fenix 3. We appreciate your patience in the meantime.”

No race data yet but in terms of normal use I find I need to charge my 3HR closer to twice a week compared to my 920XT at once a week or less for the same training volume. But this is also because I do more with the 3HR outside actual training compared to the 920XT like answer calls, scan emails, check heart rate, check barometer, etc. It feels reasonable to expect that when the novelty wears off it will last 30% less than then 920XT instead of 50% less.

I am frustrated garim realeses a beta version which includes the cranck length settings for P1 and then i would expect they include it in there official version as well. So i installed the 3.9 yesterday and guess what, crank length is not included, how come Garmin please ,……

It was in there up until 6 (I believe that’s when it dropped out), then it came back in beta firmware versions. It’s in there again as of 6.84: link to www8.garmin.com

Alternatively, as noted above you can simply use the current production firmware and then go to the Garmin Forums and within the PowerTap P1 thread folks will generate a settings.fit file which takes care of it for you to use with existing production versions.

Currently I am using a Polar v800 as GPS sportswatch, however I am thinking of switching to a Fenix 3 HR. However, this weekend I encountered something strange! My girlfriend is using the Garmin FR 230 at the moment and this weekend we did our first ride on the race bike again (spring is coming!). However, after recording the workout with both GPS watches which went perfectly fine with both watches we saw that the activity tracker in both watches behaves significantly different. The daily goal percentages were totally different between both watches: Polar v800: 267% Garmin FR230: 98%

Apparently the Garmin activity tracker does not add cycling and other GPS running workouts to the daily goal (step wise and percentage wise). Is this not available for Garmin GPS sportwatches? If yes, how do you enable this? Is this the same for the Garmin Fenix 3 HR?

Thanks Ray!! This does clarify it. Is there a reason for not implementing this? If yes, don’t you find it a bit strange? After a 4 hour cycling workout it still shows your daily goal as 98%, while it should be far more.. (similar to Polar’s percentages).. It feels a bit ‘unfair’ that I have to get up from the couch again to get the full 100%, while I already did an intensive workout.. I know it sounds lame, but you as a GPS sportswatch expert also knows that you sort of get ‘addicted’ to better/higher numbers ;-)

I don’t understand why you care. Cycling doesn’t involve “steps”. Lots of activities don’t involve “steps”. I’d say you’ve more than hit your daily goal after 4 hours, so you should choose a goal other than “steps”.

Most activity trackers are of the ‘what have you done for me lately’ type, with ‘lately’ being the last hour.

Mio is attempting to tackle this problem with their PAI concept, or basically like rollover minutes for fitness.

Nike tackled the issue by just making something up (Nike Fuel), which was basically just a variant of calories. So ultimately, if you think of calorie goals instead (as Paul suggested), it’s probably a better option.

Like international currencies, there’s an exchange rate for everything – just a matter of deciding which currency you want to use.

So, here is another “spin” on this – I created an activity called “Elliptical” to monitor my elliptical machine workouts, and assigned it a type like indoor cycling thinking it is more like biking than running and I have a cadence sensor. The fenix 3 did track everything, but it called it “indoor biking” in Garmin Connect. I was also given credit for “steps” during the same time period – maybe because I was moving my arms while I was on the machine? I guess, it really doesn’t matter to me unless for some reason it uses the step count to calculate extra calorie expenditures….I don’t think that it does – I think it only uses Firstbeat.

Basically you do it the same way as when resting. I’ve had two stress echocardiagrams done, and both times they put a cuff on me while I was running on the treadmill. It was one of those medical blood pressure machines, so it would periodically (like every minute) take my blood pressure. It was interesting to see how high it went. I have high blood pressure, so 140/80 is not unusual for me without medication, but I remember systolic going over 200 while I was running (don’t remember what diastolic was).

You don’t need to measure it during the exercise. It does not change so quickly. So even when this is done in hospitals, they put you on bike and will gradually increase the resistance, allowing you to work out several minutes at each stage, and blood pressure (and ECG) is measured straight after this “steps”, while you are on bike, but stopped and motionless. This will show how your hear react to load and how quickly recovers after that.

Slightly similar to VO2 max, but without the mask :)

So while you wont be able to do ECG at home or normal gym, taking blood pressure at relaxed, gradual load, 5 and 10 minutes after exercise is doable with common blood pressure cuff (sphygmomanometre).

World will never be the same again!! Ray, I thought that you track everything. :) (even relatively cheap and old Omron M10-IT will keep track of measurements on PC and can upload (e.g. to Microsoft HealthVault) or export data).

Personally, I like my Withings Bluetooth cuff which makes everything almost automatic, and can be done from my iPhone. But I used to use an Omron and record manually onto an app on the phone, and that wasn’t a great hardship.

Odd thing is, my physician’s office has a web site where I can link my WIthings account, but it does’t show my blood pressure readings. Maybe they think they’re just not accurate. They do show “steps”, which I pay no attention to (the Withings app nags and nags until you turn “step counting” on), and which I consider far more bogus than my self-measured blood pressure could ever be. I keep telling them they should allow linking to Strava.

No questions here, since your detailed review totally covers it all (at least for a noob on GPS-sportswatches as I am). I simply want to say thanks, to you and all the others spending time and effort on writing informative and good reviews on the web.

Ordered my f3hr bundle from REI 3 weeks ago. Called them today and they said it would not be shipped until 3.31. This is 2 weeks later than they told me 2 weeks ago when I inquired. She said there was an issue with supply. I guess we all know that by now. O’well. My old school f3 will have to do until then.

Same situation in Germany, homepathic dosis were delivered this week but not to me. backorderd to end of march…. Wait and Wait…. last change for garmin to deliver and of march… otherwise i will chancel the order and wait a couple of month for the next order. Than we a good discount by Internet dealer because everone will sell it….

Have you had any issues with different sport activities and metal band? I mean like it being too tight for some (e.g. weight lifting) and not tight enough for others (running)? With rubber strap it is easy to adjust it, but not with metal.

What type of band are you using? Garmin metal, Garmin titanium or titanium from AliExpress?

Response to Dimitry’s post (which came to my e-mail but I cannot see it here):

Thanks, Igor! (Спасибо!) Have you had any issues with different sport activities and metal band? I mean like it being too tight for some (e.g. weight lifting) and not tight enough for others (running)? With rubber strap it is easy to adjust it, but not with metal. What type of band are you using? Garmin metal, Garmin titanium or titanium from AliExpress?

Dimitry, on the opposite, I had problems (alergenic) with rubber band on my older Vivoactive as well as on my new (bought before Easters from Garmin Czech Republic) Fenix 3HR (tried during Easters in running and hiking). Yes, the correct size of the metal one (original grey Garmin bought at decent price) is a matter of lottery, and it is heavier, but during running (with body HR belt, not recording HR from the wrist) and in the pool I have (after 2 excercises yesterday and today) positive experience. The size is OK, no lifting, weight does not felt. And no alergenic reaction on my skin (of course, after the excercise it must be dried). All other functions, wrist HR during day/night wearing, plus/minus the same as with body HR connected to Vivoactive, altimeter, synchro with Samsung etc. with no problems up to now (soft updated). The only problem will be in mounting it on my bike, I will either have to use the rubber band or wear the metal on my hand. So far so good deal (“pakupka”). Rgds.

Dimitry, many thx. I know, that the titanium band is lighter, but I do not have good experience with Chinese products bought on web (fakes even from trusted sources…). I bought the original metal one and I´m still satisfied ;-) With regard to the cycle mount (as you posted pictures), where did you find it? I´ve just browsed web and did not find it :-( And I would buy green one only for my Cannondale Flash :-) :-) , if available on some British web sellers dispatching to the Czech Republic. Many thx.

“do not have good experience with Chinese products bought on web” Well, I saw several positive reviews of mentioned band on Garmin forum. And don’t forget that most of such things are produced in China nowadays and then just re-branded and sold at much higher prices.

Thx. no disappointment ;-) But I´ll not buy it, the metal band has a fixed size, therefore there could be a problem with correct mounting it on the bar. On bike I´ll rather wear it on my wrist. Rgds and again thx for your comments.

Got mine from Clever Training Monday – it’s been a couple months since I returned the Fenix 3, so it’s taking a couple days to get acclimatized to wearing a (big) watch again.

We still can’t control the 24/7 recording frequency right?

I got an off (24/7) reading once while stretching and doing back exercises, so it has thrown off my resting heart rate determination for that day, is there any way to adjust this after the fact?

My blood vessels in my wrist must be really clear or full of cholesterol from my poor diet and highly visible (I’m just making that up, I don’t know if that would help or hurt) – but I get what seems to be great readings even when strength training (bench press, squats, deadlifts,..). I did have that 24/7 recording blip though.

Just as a heads up to folks – Clever Training received a large stash of Fenix3 HR base units today (a week ahead of schedule), which should cover about 75% of existing base backorders (all bundle backorders shipped last Friday for orders prior to Friday) They’re hoping to get them all out today before various shipping cutoffs.

They’re working to see/validate if the shipment covering remaining backorders is due in early as well, or as planned for next week.

Yup, I heard a few hours ago that Clever Training is expecting another big shipment on Thursday, of both unit types. They’ll have excess of both types, so any units ordered today should ship out either Thursday afternoon (or at worst Friday morning). Just depends on what time the UPS/FedEx truck arrives. If it arrives in the morning then no issue, but obviously if it comes in at 4PM, more of an issue.

Too bad it cant utilize a smart phone accelerometer (via Bluetooth) for the running metrics, I have the RHYTHM+ that I use with my FR15 for running and rather not buy another HRM when I choose to upgrade.

Thanks for this review ! much appreciated ! I was checking the clever training membership to support your excellent work, do you have any experience with their shippings to France, especially the customs (I think you are in Paris) ? Thank you

They can ship to France. In general you’ll get dinged the 19.7% customs import fee though. If you hang out a few weeks longer, there will be an option here too (same 10% deal, free shipping, etc… – but no need for import taxes since shipped here). Testing completed over the past few weeks and the hope is to start sending out invites over the next week or two to European based DCR Supporter readers (link to dcrainmaker.com).

Yes – Clever Training UK is now in beta mode. A handful of products have been loaded and you’ll see those on various product review pages on the left sidebar (it’ll have a big ‘CT Europe’ logo below the existing Black/White Amazon/CT logos).

Right now the system does accept/ship orders, but we’re doing it a bit quietly at first. As of today, the Fenix3HR (and Vivoactive HR) aren’t yet loaded. I believe that’s slated for any day now. Mostly just to manage things slowly at first.

With CT Europe, all taxes are included, and the DCR 10% discount still applies as well. Shipping is free above a certain threshold. Cheers!

Got some clarity this morning on this. It sounds like it won’t be till July 1st, for the Fenix3 HR. This is due to some policy that Garmin UK has around not allowing online-only retailers until then for that specific product. :-(

I’m interested in hearing how instant pace has compared with the 230. I continue to be impressed by how incredibly accurate the 230 has been for me. Splits are lining up with what instant pace is displaying, GPS tracks are solid, probably the most solid of any Garmin device I’ve used.

I noticed the same thing when doing benching – little change in HR. There did seem to be some, but it was delayed. In other exercises, like core workouts, it did measure appreciable HR increases. Not sure what to think of this, as HR is mainly for aerobic workouts while weight training is more anaerobic which is a different calorie expenditure….at least as I understand it.

Having HR variability issues with the F3 HR. I’ve worn it loose, tight, top and bottom of the wrist. Usually reads too low but occasionally too high. And every once in a while it seems accurate. When I called Garmin they said they have had no reports of that yet. I am thinking it is my tiny weeny wrists. I usually wear it at the second to the last slot in the wrist band. Note: Seems accurate just at rest just off when running. Anybody else with small wrists having the same issue?

FWIW, I think I have small wrists, but I am actually quite pleased with the performance of the OHR on the fenix 3. It tracked the bpm that I observed on an elliptical machine very well, at least on one machine – on the other, it was more stable while the machine’s values had wild fluctuations. I see about 2 1/2 slots in the band when I wear the watch.

I am having trouble figuring out how to set alerts for HR zone changes. I can only set an alert for high, low or any one specific zone – but not zone changes. I’d like to trigger an alert as I transition from one zone to another. Is this possible? Maybe I am missing something.

If I wear with a HRM strap, which HR sensor takes precedence? Will it average the two in case one peaks/drops out? Also, any thoughts on optimal watch strap tightness for optical HR measurements. Thanks for amazing writing and reviews.

My understanding is that whenever a cheststrap hrm is connected, the fenix 3 will use that data instead of the internal optical hrm. It will not use both simultaneously (and I think that is a wise decision). While I own no fenix 3 HR (yet), my extensive experience with my mio fuse is that the band should be tight enough so that no light can enter between the backside of the watch and your skin. Therefore, the watch should not be able to move with respect to your arm/skin. This means it should be snug, but overtightening is not necessary. It also means that the required tension depends somewhat on the roughness of the activity: running and mountain biking require more tension than static spinning.

Great review once again, I was planning on getting a Fenix 3 when you posted about the HR release in January so thought I would go for the HR version instead.

I pre ordered on 7th February from Cotswold Outdoors as I live in the UK. The device was delivered on Friday so before end of Q1.

I have never pre-ordered a Garmin product previously as I have always bought Garmin products a few months after becoming readily available.

CO first gave me a date of mid February which came and went, I was then told this was because Garmin missed their first shipment date and I should expect the unit at the end of February. This time came and I was told it would now be expected mid March due to an issue with one of the components. I was then told they expected the delivery on the 11th March and the number expected would cover my order as I was 41st on the list. After a few problems with the Cotswold internal systems the watch was finally delivered on Friday.

When speaking to Cotswold they did advise me that it was quite normal for Garmin to promise a delivery of say 20 units and only 10 would actually arrive plus they experienced heavy delays and problems with the release of the Fenix 3 this time last year.

My question is, do Garmin usually make a hash of releasing a new device? Or is the retailer over promising on delivery dates even though these have been advised by Garmin? Or a bit of both?

Any advice for me next time if I pre order a Garmin device? If Garmin do quote Q1 end I should expect this even if a retailer indicates an earlier date?

Combining information from previous similar posts and Ray’s replies to them – it is a mixture of both. Some retailers are overoptimistic. And Garmin is not overspending for huge production in advanced of launch.

As far as I remember, Garmin quoted “Q1”, not “Q1 end”. So, with my experience in high-tech logistics, this just says that SOME DEVICES will be available somewhere in Q1 and proper availability in retail channels – somewhere by mid Q2. :)

I’d hedge more towards B than A, since we don’t see this issue as prevelent with other UK retailers.

CO is correct in that they can pre-order 500 units, and only get like 6 units. In theory Garmin focuses distribution towards retailers that have actual confirmed orders (versus just stocking shelves), but if you’ve only got 1,000 units world-wide to go around, it doesn’t leave that many per retailer.

For the first few weeks of production of most Garmin products, a 1,000 unit production week is pretty normal (or even high). After that, you’re talking 10K/week type numbers easily. Hence why the backlog tends to clear real quick after a few weeks.

I have a question regarding the integration of the watch with Apple iPhone. Specifically, will it pass along the heart rate data from the optical sensor to Apple phone in a way that I can see it on Wahoo Fitness (and also on the Apple Health Kit?

Ray, it looks like there is more data being shared between Connect and Apple Health due to Connect’s recent update. Can you comment on this? I see that heart rate is being deposited into Apple Health, but what about the opposite direction? In terms of the Connect side of this equation, will Garmin pull data from Apple Health? Are we finally going to be able to record steps with our iPhones or Withings (etc.) devices and have the step data go to Connect?

It seems like they’re going that way. If you look under some of the settings options, you’ll see an icon that seems to indicate it’ll soon be both ways. Plus, the most recent update asked perms to read all that data.

That said, as of today mine isn’t importing steps (from phone to GC). Perhaps soon it will, not sure.

On some forum I noticed people talking about that the Fenix 3 HR has a bit better ”build quality”… bezel scratches less, GPS a bit better, and that the ”firmware” is a different version/branch, etc.

Are their people here that can confirm this or is it just fairytales….

I’am still not sure if I should buy the Fenix 3 (non-saffire) or the Fenix 3 HR… so any advantages for the one or other would be welcome to understand to make the dission (to spend more money) a bit easyer ;) hopefully.

Rob, There was nothing wrong with my fenix 3 HR. Bezel and band were in great shape. I have not had a chance to test out the GPS, but I have owned all the Garmin fenix versions through the years with firmware upgrade the GPS only gets better. Both HR and non HR are great units. I choose to update from the non- HR to the sapphire version for the durability. The additional HR sensor helped me validate spending the extra money. Todd

Darren, I had the fenix 3 for over a year before selling it to upgrade for to the fenix 3 HR. I wore my fenix 3 almost everyday to work and during workouts. The gray did not show scratches or wear which I would consider noticeable. It is a rugged watch which can take a beating and with the sapphire glass now I can hit it even harder.

Thanks Todd. Really making my decision tougher. Like the idea of the optical for resting HR and other non strap activities. However do really like the look of the silver on the classic. Best of both worlds would be a silver sapphire HR, but if that comes something tells me it might be a while. Seems there is not enough of the HR’s to go around as is.

Darren, I really like the matte gray/silver versus the true silver color. The gray definitely gives it a more rugged look, but still can be professional or provide a dressy look. I am a little disappointed about not being able to use any of the leather band options on the optical sensor version, but at the same time when running or hiking do I really want a sweaty leather band or do I want to continuously have to change bands out by activity.

I’m having an issue where I weigh myself every morning on the Garmin Index Scale and it syncs fine with Garmin Connect however that data is not being pushed to the Fenix 3 HR. I believe my vivoactive would update my weight once I synced with the mobile app. Anyone experiencing the same issue?

Loving the Fenix 3 HR so far but been getting some odd altimeter readings over the last few days. The figure is going up steadily when I am sat at my desk in my office, then down again in the evening. Tried a master reset but still the same. Any ideas? I have emailed Garmin support, see what they come back with.

Same issues with mine. Called Garmin support and said they are aware of the out of whack altimeter readings. They said it was a software issue and are working on a resolution. Tech said he added me to the email list to be notified of progress or resolution of the issue

Hi Jon, Nick, I don’t think it is a problem, the altimeter works with the barometer unless you have you GPS activated. When you start an outside activity, when the GPS is activated, the altimeter will make an auto calibration from where you are (P19 in the manual) from there it will help to have a precise position. When in normal mode (no GPS), it should work like an airplane altimeter, you need to calibrate it because as the barometric pressure change due to weather systems, it has the same effect that is you climb or go down. A depression system for example, will decrease the barometric pressure, so you altimeter will show a climb, the same thing happened will climbing in a plane as the pressure decrease at high altitude. So, I think, when you are at you office or home, with out GPS activated, you need to calibrated, manually or by GPS like the manual says, it will activate the GPS to get you actual elevation. I’m curious to see what Garmin will come up with as I think it’s normal what you are seeing ! What you see on you watch in the picture, you would see a drop in the barometric pressure for the same period, like bad weather coming with low pressure system !

Hi Pierre, I have also been getting some odd temperature readings, like 1 degrees c when I am sat in my warm office. I have since noticed that when the altimeter is manually calibrated it goes back to the previous reading within a few minutes. Garmin have advised that they want to replace my watch using the normal warranty procedure. Overall I am impressed with the watch, I have been comparing the HR data on rides to a chest strap and my Edge 1000 and I am fairly impressed, there tends to be a bit of a lag for a few seconds but the readings are generally spot on and better than I was expecting.

Can you send me information about this out of whack Altimeter bug? I just wrote Garmin support (and beta support) a very long email about the Altimeter. My altimeter started randomly drifting this morning. I bought it yesterday from REI and returned it because the Altimeter went wacky, then I swapped it out and had the same issue, even with Firmware 2.91 beta. It does behave like a software issue, almost like a 1/x or sign swap issue and an integrator wind up problem because the barometer dropped when indicated altitude dropped. The altimeter showed an altitude of 400 feet when the barometer was set to 29.92. When I took a GPS fix, the altimeter reset to 50 feet, and rather than rising by 0.35 inhg, it fell 0.35 inhg.

Barometric pressure measurement is extremely erratic. Barometer will fluctuate about reasonable barometric pressures, then begin fluctuating to extreme positive and negative values. Please see the image showing the unit dropping to -7759mb, then climbing to 6517mb within a 12 hour period. This renders the barometric altimeter useless during activities, reporting extreme ascents and decents. I experienced this issue on the original fenix 3 HR that I purchased, returned it, and am now experiencing the same issue on a second fenix 3 HR. Garmin’s initial response to me was to re-calibrate the altimeter. Not very helpful. I too would appreciate any updates from Garmin regarding this issue.

Bill, Disable auto calibration and turn off Bluetooth. Force altitude to a known elevation and wait for pressure to reset to 1012 millibar. Sometimes this takes time. Upgrade firmware to 2.92 beta. Enter a known elevation for calibration. Leave auto calibration off for time being. After a day or so, reenable Bluetooth but leave off autocal. Garmin support is aware of issue. It is software, not hardware. I returned a watch too. Incidentally do you have an iPhone? Garmin says only iPhones have this problem. Mine is working now of that helps, but had the same problems you had last week.

Thanks Josh. I am paired with Android OS, Gslaxy S5 running version 5.1.1. I had already upgraded my fenix 3 HR to version 2.92 hoping there had been an undocumented fix. I am waiting for the barometer to reset as you’ve described. I will let you know if this fix/work around works for me.

Bill, you may have to physically set your altitude once disabling bluetooth. I also disabled GLONASS in my situation and set pressure units to inhg because I use it for aviation applications. Once I did this, the altimeter reset and the barometer defaulted to 29.92″(1012mb) From there I reset altitude to a known height (or used the GPS) with autocal disabled and it seems to have worked ever since. the key seems to be getting the unit to recognize an issue and snap the barometer setting back to default. I haven’t had an issue since so I don’t know what to make of it, but the new firmware doesn’t hurt anything–

It took a full week to get the barometer and altimeter to synch with one another in a stable manner. Once they did, with regular calibration/auto cal on, the f3hr has worked well. I have been very happy with the overall performance. I am running the 2.92 beta firmware.

Jon, did you ever get a fix from Garmin on the Altimeter issue? I bought a Fenix3 HR last month and started experiencing the issue about 3 weeks in. I opened a ticket with Garmin support and they wanted to exchange the watch. I mentioned this and other posts I’ve seen that point to a software issue, but they didn’t acknowledge this was a known issue and proceeded with an exchange. I’m now 4 days in on the replacement watch and the issue has started again. Seems like this is a wide spread enough issue that this should be a priority for a fix. This is one of their premium devices and very disappointing to spend this kind of money and have such an issue go unresolved this long (seems this has been ongoing for 9+months). Aside from this issue, I do love the watch.

Hi all, I am having the same issue: wrong barometric readings and wrong altimetry readings. I calibrate it manually, and in a random way it goes wacky. I have it with glonass and bluetooth on paired with an Iphone. To me it seems that turning off bluetooth and glonass is not a suitable solutions. I have contacted garmin support, will wait for an answer soon enough (hopefully)

Hi. could you please describe more what do u mean with “wrong readings” ? an example would be perfect. because me (fenix3HR) – if i calibrate altimeter manually (gps on, glonass off) and go for run, if i end on the same place where i started – sometimes i have difference +/- couple meters. then later (next day or next days) if i start the same place again – altimiter does not show (in most cases) the same altimeter (difference couple of meters from 1-20). is this normal or is it also already wrong ? thanks

are there people whose watch is working properly with the latest firmware in place. In case I will ask garmin for a substitution. 400 euros watch which tell me -1400 meters seems a bit too much to me…. and Garmin it seems it is a known bug since march 2016

Ray, Great review… as always :) I have an interesting story with Fenix 3 HR … Maybe you can help me… I bought Fenix3 HR last week and since the begining I have issue with heart rate recording during workout. Always the same pattern… after around 10 min of running my heart rate jumps roughly 40 bpm and it stays there (even above my HR Max) till the end of the workout. I tried move the watch on the wrist, cover it with sleeve (to warm it up), tighten the strap but no change… After 5 days (3 runs) I returned the watch to the shop and took another item but HR behaviour was the same. Yesterday (during workout and after HR jump) I move the watch to another wrist and HR dropped close to acceptable values… Maybe you noticed something like that? Any ideas on how to deal with it?

Hello Ray! Thanks for the review. Do you have any ideas what prevents Garmin from introducing ANT FE-C control (Tacx smart series) to f3? Is it more protocol/hardware limitations or firmware update can fix it in the future? What is your guess?

Great review Thanks ! Have received my F3 HR (bundle with HRM-run) on march 16th, I can’t say that it’s the best sport watch on the market because I haven’t tried other watches in the same league, but I can believe reviewer that says it’s the best ! Simply wow after one week of intense use playing with the menus and configuration, plus and a couples of runs. the battery looks great. The wrist HR gave me good values, so far very satisfied with all the options.

I have a question though using the HRM-run strap, do we have to disconnect it after an activity, because when I take it off of my chest, even if the wrist HR is set to “Auto” in the menu, the HRM-run stay connected and when I go to the HR widget, the value start to climb reaching over 200 PPM, so I have to go in the menu and disconnect it, I though it was automatic after removing it from my chest ?

Just purchased a Fenix3 HR and I can’t find an explanation for the two bar type scales on the left (white) and right (red) of the digital default clock screen. Also no explanation for the 0-15 grid around the right upper quarter of the same screen? Can you explain?

Hi Johnnie. The white scale represents your steps, when it reaches the top you have reached your daily goal. The red scale is the move bar. If you’re inactive for an hour the longer red line is drawn followed by a smaller line for every consecutive 15 minutes. When it’s full you haven’t moved much for 2 hours. Have fun.

Received mine in the mail with an additional Garmin brown leather strap that i just love. The bundle I purchased included the HRM running heart rate strap for additional running metric data. I was wondering if I should still purchase the “shoe pod”, or if the running heart rate strap takes the place of the pod?

Was wondering if you’ve seen or heard if they will be doing a titanium version of the HR? I want to combine this as a training / day watch as I thought the Fenix3 Titanium was a really nice looking timepiece but held off buying when I heard the HR version was coming out.

I saw that you can buy the HR watch and a separate titanium strap but not sure how good that would look.

Hi, I was also thinking (and curious whether HR version will be also in titanium) about titanium version, but the combination of silver rounding and grey/black body with silver band (on non-HR version in Garmin shop) does not look good. My new Fenix 3 HR with separately bought metal (grey-black original, I do not know why they do not supply it in one package, separate purchase is expensive :-( but thanks to our local Garmin shop at decent price) band looks good even with my daily working suit with tie :-( Look at it in some shop and you will not wait. Should be the whole watch in silver, it would make sense, but the current color combi is strange.

Ray, Have you noticed any difference in the GPS activity for outdoor running on Fenix 3HR vs 920xt? I’ve had the Fenix 3HR for over a week now and has been working great for swimming (pool) and cycling (indoor and outdoor). For running however I noticed that the pace/speed is not as smooth as the Forerunner 920xt. The Fenix 3HR dooms to be more spikes. I was just wondering if it was just me or if the GPS works a little differently on the Fenix 3HR ?

Guess I’ll be waiting a little bit more then. Any idea when? I subscribed to your newsletter not this miss any new also related to this. The Clever Training page doesn’t mention any taxes upon selecting my country but I find that odd. I would be paying 599 euro from the local Bever shop vs 510 euro from Clever training (VIP program and shipment costs included) without any additional taxes. Best regards.

Hi Ray, just heads up that Garmin Fenix 3 HR is already having a bug, my unit does not record HR during any activity, despite the fact that I can see the HR in the 4 hours tracking, HR is ON (auto). Garmin recognized the issue asked me to return the watch directly to them. Do not know if I am the only one facing it. Regards, Marcio

I Actually had the same issue. Bough my watch last Friday and after firmware updates, resets, I even installed the Beta version its still not working. As I live in Miami, I took the watch to the new store GARMIN just opened here. Experience was completely disappointing as they agreed theres a hardware issue but they couldn’t replace it in site (Although they had plenty of units in stock). Really frustating you drive to one of the two Garmin stores in USA and they are not able to solve the problem immediately. Instead to make things worst they got you on the phone for 30′ to talk with customer service and get into a 6-8 days replacement process.Very disappointed…….

I have had the watch changed in the shop after I had the readings in the picture… I hope though this fix will come shortly. I see in the new watch too, that if I calibrate the altimeter the barometer gets screwed… and this is completely un-realistic.

new watch and after 2 days I got this (picture) reading, being at a table working…. (the drops are my manual calibration) [from 500m to 1000 and so on…]

I am sincerely giong to consider going to the shop and simply getting my money back, maybe I will wait for garmin fenix5 to come out… but the way garmin is dealing with this problem is a real disappointment (to say the less).

Ray, I would need help. On my F3 HR, I have tried to create new app for gym workout – I chose pre-ready strength and also one app for pre-cardio. Problem I have is that accelerometer is not active (GPS is off), meaning I can’t get the distance for my circuits that includes running. Indoor running works fine with accelerometer but I don’t want to use that if running is only one of the many in that workout. Did I miss something or this how it works?

There’s no correlation between heart rate and calorie burn during weight lifting, since it’s anaerobic, so the number your Fenix gives you will not be correct (and apparently the heart rate from the optical sensor may not be right). But a little simple physics can get you want you want. The energy needed to lift a weight m a distance h is simply mgh, where g is 9.8 meters/second^2. So take the weight in kg, multiply by the distance you lift it in meters (including repetitions) and g, and you’ll get the number of joules you just used. 1000 joules is approximately 1 C because the efficiency of your muscles is about 1/4.

I’ve been interested in the Wahoo TICKRX heart rate strap which has, I think, an accelerometer in it for counting reps using one of their apps. If you had a foot pod, an accelerometer on your chest, and a Fenix 3 on an arm, it seems you could make a good estimate of the exercise and number of reps. I’m hoping Garmin tries to do something with this technology, perhaps, using their TRI heart rate strap and their foot pod.

I just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews and info you provide. I was planning on waiting for the vivoactive hr, but after reading your review of the f3hr, and seeing a coworker with one, I am glad I didn’t wait. I used the discount from CT, and even with the free shipping, got it in 2 days. Can’t wait to get off work, and give the run a try.

I have been using Vivoactive since April 2015, I was satisfied except for battery life with GPS (on bike 5,5hrs only). I was also thinking about new Vivoactive HR, but my new Fenix 3 HR is a piece of watch, no complains until now. But Vivoactive and Fenix are both good gadgets, each for a slightly different use.

I put both the Fenix 3 and Fenix 3 HR through the wringer this morning, 12 mile 5400′ winter mountaineering excursion. Solely to compare heart rate of optic v strap. I am a 20 year veteran of the strap, so I was venturing out of my comfort zone. Verdict? The HR was wildly inaccurate, both high and low. I was using ski poles with snowshoes. When not using arms (such as in hiking or running) they both were very close in tests I did yesterday. So, bottom line, if you are using your arms (XC skiing, snowshoeing or even Euro-style Ultrarunning), forget the HR.

Pls do not forget that nobody is presenting HR wrist measurement as a full replacement for chest HR belt! The wrist HR feature is a kind of geek or “modern” way how to monitor HR 24/7 during non sport activities. And for sport/outdoor/adventure accurate HR monitoring the body belt is still the only solution. BTW, how tight was your wrist band during your “arm” activities? I´ve compared at the same run mine Fenix 3 HR with metal band (pretty tight during the activity) in wrist HR measurement (in second mode, not the smart one) with chest HR measurement on Vivoactive and the difference (in lows and highs) was not so tragic. My recommendation – for accurate measurement wear body belt, for daily overview use the wrist HR.

I’m a current owner of a MS-Band 2, and on the long run, one of the key features I’m looking at for when I will replace it is the smart alarm, which wakes you up to 30 minutes before your target wake up time by analyzing your sleep cycles to avoid ring within deep sleep time. I understand this rely on partly on HR monitoring, and I was wondering if the Fenix 3 HR was having such a feature?

hello i just got my f3HR yesterday, and stared using it i udatded to software 2,92 but not sure if i have to do something special to get my HR , shown up, i feared it since 7:00 am and now ate 8 PM still not having an HR measurement .. i have the th sensor in the automatic mode , hope this is correct . in the screen the small heart is blinking from red to grey..

Strange. Mine is detecting my HR on my wrist within 5 secs and then steadily lights red and it is changing following my movements. Like with the chest strap. And I have soft version 2.20 (and no possibility to update, according to Garmin Up-to-date, maybe it is an European version of soft, who knows.

For me difficult to say. I have my first Fenix 3 HR only 2 weeks. When using secs mode (not smart one) of wrist HR measurement, it is more accurate. But for running and biking which I do,the chest strap is better,it shows you more info. So in principle you could be right if you take the price, but if you follow trends, there is no other than HR choice ;-)

I’ve had mine for 3 weeks, and the HRM seems to be giving me accurate enough information for calorie burn and intensity minutes….I think that these two are insensitive enough to the OHR to give reasonably consistent results though I need to validate this more. I am not sure yet about HR training. I have compared the HR readings to those on an elliptical machine, and they are very close to each other (within a few bpm). I have noticed a problem with Paring of the HRM with activities if I do not wait long enough – leads to very inaccurate results. Also, the variability when working out with weights seems to be too high (I think this is expected of all OHR). In general, I get reasonably consistent HR data for the same activity on different days. I like the 24/7 and RHR that I get, and the watch is superb in all other ways. I suspect a decision on which watch to buy would come down to cost and how much accuracy in HR is needed.

The GPS on mine is WAY off. The heart rate and altimeter actually work though. I changed it from smart recording to once every second and that did not help. I am wearing it on my wrist. I am wondering if i put it on the handlebars if that will help. But, then that negates the whole reason for having HR on my wrist. Plus, I would need to purchase a heart rate strap just for that. I have already shed out nearly $700 for this thing. I have mainly used it biking in the woods.

Hi. Does anyone know if it’s possible with the fenix 3 HR when using the Rowing app can you set intervals based on the stroke count. For example 20 strokes then 20secs rest, then 30 strokes then 30 secs rest etc. When i go to set custom workouts it seems to only let me choose time, distance etc but not stroke count. Thanks

It depends, if you do not want 24/7 HR tracking, then buy F3 without wrist HR, but when you buy F3HR, for some activities and more accurate HR results you will still need chest HR strap. My suggestion, if you can afford it, buy F3HR.

Hello Ray, I would like to buy the Fenix 3 HR, but I don’t have have very good result with an optical Heartrate. I have used a Mio Link together with my Fenix 3, but the heart rate is not very accurate in my opinion. I am only using it for running. Will the optical heartrate of the Fenix 3 HR be better or will this be about the same result?

Hi Ray, Thanks for helping everyone with such a nice review and all answers to everones questions! I currently use the Sapphire only with the metal band. That is why its not so tight on my wrist. Mostly when I have a shirt with a long sleeve I put the watch over the shirt. Will this effect the outcome of the hartrate as its too loose on the wrist or if I wear it over my shirt. I am still in doubt to buy it or not :-).

I own one of these for a couple of days now and this review is clearing up a view things for me. Thank you for that! What does annoy me is activity tracking combined with a simple ride on a bike. When i get home several 1000 steps are added within the step counter. And it seems there is no way to automaticaly turn of the step counter when a certain app (in this case biking) is started.

You are right about the HR sensor combined with bumpy cycling, better use a strap! :)

Hi, it´s quite strange, I had the same problem adding steps during cycling on my previous Vivoactive, but with the new F3 HR I´ve not experienced it any more, no added steps (only few during stops) to activity tracking.

Nice review, as always very helpful. But after reading everything I have just one question.

It’s really painful changing the band between normal and metal one??? It’s easy ?? Or take to much time??

I think I will get the fenix 3 Sapphire with Metal band because I think looks great with the office clothing, for sports the normal band has a better fit, but if it’s difficult changing the watch bands, I think the HR is the way to go.

Depends on your definition of “painful”. To do this you just unscrew several screws, put the new band and screw it back with the supplied screw-driver (simple and reliable system). If doing this from time to time – seems OK. If you will be looking to do this several times per week – not.

Hi. Your reviews are brilliant. I’m a very amateur athlete but I always look to your reviews for guidance as to how a device will suit me and I find them very helpful In the past, your “shopping” links don’t work because Amazon didn’t seem to be able to ship to Australia, but I’m def going to try them from now. I am going to purchase the Fenix 3 HR. I wish they would make one for women- not so much in weight, but in colour and design – we do like pretty things! Cheers Sally

I bought the F3 OHR about two weeks ago. Quite happy with the watch overall, there is now a beta programme for it as well. Optical HR performance has been good with more and more improvements being made.

GPS, on the other hand, is in the same state as with the F3- OK in best case scenario conditions and not that good when there are trees/buildings around you. You can clearly see that in the below run from this morning- I can assure you that I never ran through trees and on the roof of those houses:

Well, there is no way of knowing that for sure. Any update is better than nothing. I would ask the store where I got the watch for an exchange if I did not know from experience that getting a new watch will not change anything.

I would return the watch for a full refund if I still could. The watch is quite great on all other fronts but I find the GPS to be poor at best.

Gps accuracy is absolutely deplorable in the F3HR. No watch is perfect, but this model is the worst I’ve seen….period. Maybe there will be some magical updates to improve down the road. Ambit 3 can’t be beat in the hiking/tri/running space. For pure running, Garmin FR235 is actually very good on gps, and the price point is favorable.

Hi everybody, today I´ve experienced strange behavior of Bluetooth on my Fenix 3 HR. BT connection suddenly stopped working and could not be reconnected with my PC and phone (two different S-sungs) any more. Also ANT+ HR chest strap stopped working with no success to reconnect. Wi-Fi transfer worked normally. I had to make a hard reset (several times) after which BT still cannot connect to none of my gadgets (it shows paring number but after several attempts it fails to pair). ANT+ HR chest strap is now working as well as Wi-Fi transfers. Would you suggest any way how to make BT alive? Many thx.

Ray–thanks for everything. I had a strange occurrence with my fenix 3 hr today. I wore it all night, went for a morning run, and wore it to work this morning. For some reason around 11 pm the device stopped recording heart rate it appears. The heart rate recorded throughout my run, and according to my watch (under the 4 hours widget) it recorded all morning. Connect however doesn’t log any heart rate after my run. Any idea how to force this data off my watch and onto connect? I plugged the device into my computer to no avail. Seems like the data is stuck on the watch itself.

I am wondering about how it’s confortable and functional to run with the metal band. Have you or anyone tried to run with the Fenix 3 HR with a metal band or the Fenix 3 Sapphire with the metal band? Any advice about that?

I am trying to figured out if get the fenix 3 hr or the fenix 3 sapphire with the metal band. I like the looks of the metal band but I am very interested in if it’s functional for running. Changing band 3-4 times a week it’s not an option, just because if you loose that little screws… oh Lord what a problem!!!

3 weeks ago I bought F3 HR with rubber band, after couple of days (due to alergenic reation of the rubber to my skin) I bought original metal band. I am wearing watch all day long (sometimes also during night, but not regularly) with nearly everyday running and/or cycling and/or swimming. I do not have any problems with the metal band weight and size (it must be comfortably tight around the wrist, not “free”). No problems during running, swimming and cycling (except for the fact that during cycling I have to wear it on my wrist and not on handlebars). Of course, you cannot adjust it on the spot like the rubber one, but up to now I have not experienced any problems.

as always thank you for your time and expertise in your reviews!! Quick Q, when will the Fenix 3 HR be available on Clever? …wasn’t sure if it was a mistake or not but site only shows Fenix 3 not the new HR.

Yup, already there (and in stock!). Click the logo on the left sidebar (or, just click here: link to clevertraining.com) – and then in the gigantic dropdown of Fenix3 flavors you’ll see the ones that say “with Optical HR”. That’s the Fenix3HR.

The watch face SpaceGMT allows one of the data circles to show HR. It is configurable. Its a great looking watch face… really clean. Once of the cleanest faces I have seen and it does not drain the battery.. I do feel, after using it for a few weeks, that the HR data that it shows is behind a bit. For example, when I am lifting weights, the heart rate on this watch face is usually different than the HR shown on the HR widget. So I do not think it is good for tracking HR while working out. Although, while working at the office, and generally throughout the day, it gives a heart rate that seems to be acceptable. It would be great if this face tracked exactly with the HR widget. None the less I am going to keep it as my face and try the domipulse app listed above for when I need more accurate HR readings. BTW, when I bike and run I use the chest strap as I feel this OHR is just not there yet. It is a fun toy though.

Hi, I’m not using SUP and skiing, but mine wrist HR is recording (whilst chest strap disconnected) during running, hiking, climbing, cycling and other mode which I tried) and as it is written in the review, HR wrist recording is disabled for swimming (which I can confirm) only. I.e. wrist HR should record during skiing and SUP.

Hi Thanks for the great review!!! I recently got my Fenix 3 HR and I went out for run with my old garmin 620 without the strap! I just wanted to compare the distance which was 100% accurate however I did notice my bpm was 101 when running my at intense! Sub 7 for the last two mile of 6 mile total! I have had my 620 for more than a year and whenever I am running that hard with strap, my bpm is around 180!!! There was no V02 recorded for a first run even at intense run. Second I decided to run with strap with 620 and Fenix HR. Prior to taking of both watch had same bpm +/- 5 reading. when I started running and results were far off. for fenix 3 hr 1m – 7:07 min/m HR120 bpm 2m – 7:19 min/m HR116 bpm 3m – 7:25 min/m HR111 bpm 4m – 7:19 min/m HR105 bpm 5m – 7:25 min/m HR107 bpm 6m – 7:27 min/m HR115 bpm 7m – 7:32 min/m HR190 bpm 8m – 7:24 min/m HR195 bpm 9m – 7:19 min/m HR198 bpm 10m – 8:10 min/m HR189 pbm

as for 620 bpm was +50 bpm from mile 1 throu mile 6 and -30bpm from mile 7 to mile 10.

Aslo heart monitor chart on the phone has gaps of 1hr or more randomly and I haven’t taken this watch for more than 70hrs. I want to say the the fenix 3hr sensor is a bust but I want your thought on this before I return the watch for replacement.

We should give poor ray a break. I mean, he didn’t make the watch, and he doesn’t run the marketing or sales or research and development dept at Garmin, at least I don’t think he does.

He just reviews theses things to give us a realtime view of what we can expect and an inside look at the feature set.

Every human body is different and environments are different day to day. All the watch does is try and capture what it can, the best it can. Fenix 3 hr has to be one of the most sophisticated machines in its class. It’s not very old at this point. I’m sure a few tweaks are in order.

Personally I love this thing. All my friends have very expensive regular watches like Rolex omega etc but they don’t have half as much fun with their watches as I do with mine.

I’m going for a run today with my fenix hr and my vivoactive with the scoche strap. (That’s a nice combination)

Any chance that the Fenix 3 heart rate Elevate sensor will be updated in the short term near future by Garmin? Worried about buying the Fenix 3HR and having Garmin release a new Fenix 4 or other new version in the next couple months with a better sensor…….

I asked the Garmin rep about F4 at the Boston Marathon Expo and he said there will never be a F4 because the name matches with some Asian bad luck name so F5 will be next and at best it would be 2nd quarter 2017. Have no idea if he is correct.

Really happy F3 user, however, would really really love the on demand and always available hr, in my opinion that’s about the only thing missing from my F3, is that enough to jump to the F3 HR, or should I wait for the release of the next watch which im sure is liable to be 1st quarter 2017????????????????????????

Hi, as far as I know from various reviews, none of the existing wrist HR trackers (on various wathes or wrist bands) is meant for sport (interval, fluctuating in quick sessions) purposes, they are mainly for fitness HR tracking. And also bear on mind that HR measurement on wrist is not as accurate as with chest strap due to various reasons (“cold hands”, fat under the skin etc), the best results with HR wrist measurements for example for me is when I’m warmed up and the sensor/wathes are “upside down” on my wrist. Such measurements I have closely similar to chest HR strap ones. The chest HR strap is currently the only accurate HR measurement for sport purposes. Please correct me (Ray or whoever else) if I’m wrong. Thx. I have my F3HR wrist sensor mainly for 24/7 fitness tracking (already compared with paralel wearing of chest strap with Vivoactive that was similar) and for sport I’m still using HR strap (btw if I’m not mistaken, V02 is measured with chest strap only, not with wrist one).

Thanks for a good review. I have just bought a fenix 3 HR, and are enjoying the vast amount of features a lot. One thing I can’t seem to figure out, is if it is possible to transfer your training calender to the watch via connect mobile. So far I have only managed to transfer the training calendar through USB via garmin express. Are there other features (assuming I am right) that are only available via garmin express, besides WIFI setup?

Thank you very much for the reply Igor. I will continue to try that, but for whatever reason that hasn’t worked yet. But I am glad that it is supposed to work. Perhaps I have given up too fast, instead of giving it time.

Martin, allow on your phone discoverable BTmode, then go to Garmin Connect app, add device F3HR and then authorise it with 6digit pass code. You must be online to verify your F3HR with Garmin server. Then every time you open Garmin Connect it starts to synchro. But when I authorised Wi-Fi server via Garmin Express, every time I finish excercise I synchro it via Wi-Fi (through watch setting), it is much quicker.

Thanks for the guide. My watch and phone are connected, and synchronise, transfer workouts manually and upload activities and so forth. It is only planned workouts in the training calender that are not showing up on the watch. Even after manually triggering syncing between phone and fenix. But as you say that it should work, I will continue trying.

Thanks John. I had already looked there without any luck. (Of course that does not mean the info isn’t there, just that I haven’t found it.) The only search hit for training calendar says that you CAN sync scheduled workouts via garmin connect, but no specifics. And so far I have only managed to transfer them via garmin express.

I managed to figure it out myself now. You still need to trigure the transfer online by clicking send to device. This will open up garmin express (which I assumed meant you would need to sync via garmin express). However, next sync with connect mobile also transfered the training calendar. I guess I up until now have used express, and therefore not realised it actually worked like this.

Curious if anyone ever figured out a good way to fix the very easily scratched finish on the Fenix 3. Just scratched my Fenix 3 HR. I’ve got both and seems they didn’t make any improvement in the durability of the finish……

What part of the watch have you scratched – bezel? I don’t think there is any easy chance to fix scratches to PVD coating – this is the same with other watches that has PVD coating. Although there were some photos on Garmin forum with this coating completely removed. (to do this you need to unscrew the bezel, protect the glass and carefully polish the coating off)

For me this is the reason why I would love Garmin to release F3HR with “silver” (uncoated) bezel.

I’m currently testing out a Fenix 3 HR, but my dilemma is asking myself is it worth the $400 premium to keep the Fenix 3 HR over the incoming Vivoactive HR. I run a good amount of time and, if I’m honest with myself, all I really need for a watch are GPS (with 1s sampling), cadence tracking, optical HR and the ability to pair an ANT+ chest strap and the Vivoactive HR checks all that.

As I said above, I’m currently trying out the Fenix 3 HR and all the stats are nice for running, but a lot of those stats (like ground contact time and vertical oscillation) are directly tied to just having a better cadence. I do enjoy the build quality a lot… but again is paying out $400 more worth it? I don’t know. I have 2 or 3 more weeks to really decide.

$250 vs. $650 (I bought the Fenix 3 with the HRM run bundle)…

Anyone else on the same boat and trying to figure it all out before the Vivoactive HR comes out in 2 to 3 weeks? Will I really miss not having V02Max, Lactate Threshold and the gen 2 running stats? The awesome build quality and look of the Fenix 3 HR.. But I’ll have $400.00 back to reallocate for my budget.

So while I certainly never go skiing or kayaking or don’t even ride my bike I own a Fenix and never looked back.

The way I saw it is that half my fun is playing and learning and testing. With all the other watches I owned: vivoactive, basis, zen watch, vivosmart, Samsung etc they never gave me enough to work with.

I don’t buy a lot of stuff. These days, I buy a guitar every now and then. I don’t fish so I don’t own a fishing boat, I don’t collect art, I don’t watch sports and pay $$$ of dollars for games.

I make money and pay for kids college and their stuff. So as I see it I deserve the best of the trivial stuff I do buy for myself.

Besides all that let’s go back to reason #1 I love gadgets especially technology.

I’m basically in the same boat as John – I love new technology, and the F3 HR is the best technology currently available. I am really enjoying using the watch, and learning a lot about how to increase my fitness level by taking advantage of the measurements the watch provides. I have a core group of 5-6 activities where I use the watch, and another 2-3 that I use it periodically. In addition, it provides steps and HR monitoring – love it!!

I was in the same boat. I think you should keep the Fenix 3 HR . 95% of my use with this watch is for running. I received a FR 630 for Xmas, and just bought the Fenix 3 HR (and promptly put the 630 on Ebay.) I am getting used to the girth of the Fenix 3 compared to the 630. The 630 is a great watch, but the Fenix 3 gives me more options if I want to try a triathlon, or trail run, or add waypoints, etc. I agree with you about ground contact, and vertical oscillation metrics (they aren’t useful to me and end up being metrics for the sake of metrics) I need to increase my cadence, and that will improve the other metrics. I think this watch has everything I want and plan to have this watch for a least 2-3 years. I also, don’t like the look of the Vivoactive HR, it reminds me of the tomtom nike gps, and the fenix should be more durable. Another option is to just get the Fenix 3 HR without the chest strap, as it saves you 50 bucks (but you get penalized down the road if you buy the strap separately.) I think you will get more milage out of a Fenix 3 HR, and won’t be longing for a watch for at least a year. Good luck with your decision.

Hi and as always a great site. I have had the Fenix 3 HR for 5 days and I like it so much. The ski app, indoor rowing and indoor and outdoor running works as I wanted, the HR and weight from my scale also. But I have 2 problems.

First I use outlook on my Samsung S6 phone and the email sync but not the calendar. I cant figure out how to sync that with the calendar witdget on the Fenix 3.

The second is indoor bike, it measures time and HR but I get no distance from the Life Fitness bike in my gym. I dont now if it has and ANT but I have an app in my phone that has QR code reader that read from the bikescreen. Is there a way to transfer that data or any other method to get distance from the indoor gym bike.

Is there any way to see the lactate threshold and stress score measurements any place other than on the watch? I think its a cool feature and would like to see how my training is progressing over time. Thanks for the great review! Just convinced me to go out and get one.

Just wanted to hear your thoughts on which of the many Fenix 3 types that is LEAST prone to scratches on the bezel? Have you tested it?

One of my friends have the standard Fenix 3, and the bezel got all kinds of scratches during everyday use and running. I would think that the titanium version would be less prone to scratches since it is not colored or what do you think? Any cheaper alternatives than the titanium, that still is better than the standard Fenix 3?

Not sure about titanium version, but all other Fenix 3 and Fenix 3 HR have steel bezel. It can be polished (“silver” version) or have a PVD-coating (grey, “rose gold”). So, as you can see, uncoated steel bezel will have least noticeable scratches and big ones can be polished away.

I’ve already submitted my “idea” that uncoated “silver” bezel variant of F3HR will be great. Please do the same – link to www8.garmin.com

Given enough force, most are prone to some scratches on the bezel. But it really does take a fair bit.

You’ll notice in this review, the very first image shows a slight scratch on the bezel. That was caused by sharp airport metal edge (on a counter/surface thing) and I’m not sure really anything would have rejected that well.

I haven’t done scratch tests on bezels beyond the cases where I’ve managed to scratch something.

Hi Ray, Thanks for the awesome review! I have some quick question though. In this page from Garmin: link to www8.garmin.com 2.93 beta ls the latest (as of today April 19, 2016). I see that the HR optical accuracy looks better in your charts (from your review) and that you’ve mentioned you are using beta build. Are you using something like 2.91 or 2.92 in your review/testing? I would like to confirm this because I read this another review in Fenix 3 HR here: link to navigation-professionell.de It says that the optical heart rate accuracy improves after updating to 2.91 beta.

I’m planning to buy one as my permanent day to day + activity + sports tracking watch. I currently own Forerunner 10 which I’m using for several years. (usable for running only). I’m planning to retire my Forerunner 10 and upgrade to Fenix 3 HR but I’m a bit worried about tits optical HR accuracy. But I’m a bit happy to read your review that you are testing using the beta firmware version and from that other site as well. So when I purchase this unit, I would need to update the firmware to latest version so I will have a more accurate optical HR readings. Do you agree on this one?

I think this is my ideal watch because I’m planning to do more biking, running and even swimming in the future. I usually travel to a lot of places (also planning to do more soon). I want to plot them in maps as my activities (for history of my travels, sort of travel diaries ) including my health (so HR, activity tracking data included). I don’t want to wear HR strap all the time, but I want them to be reliable. It’s why I think Fenix 3 HR fits the bill. I think that with Fenix 3 HR and its long battery life, it has its own navigational features that will work even without cell phone coverage and lots of cool features which I be using during my travel/hiking.

If you have an opinion about some other devices that you could recommend instead of Fenix 3 HR. I would be glad to hear about it :)

Hello! Thanks for all the work you’re doing, it’s a really useful and very well done effort! I have a question regarding the F3HR vs. vivoactive HR. According to the official site’s comparison between the two, the vivoactive is “Shock Resistant”, whereas the Fenix3 HR is not (link to buy.garmin.com). Could you please comment on that? What would “Shock Resistant” mean here? Thanks again!

I was wondering how well the HR worked during weight lifting exercises. I saw another review that said it’s not very accurate but that person’s review was nothing as detailed as yours. Great job!! Great information!!

Yeah, I have been a bit puzzled as to what use HR is for weightlifting and some other activities. I guess if you’re just curious to see where your HR goes, but you can’t really use it to train as you do with running by HR zones, can you?

Hello and great review, thank you. My question is regarding the calorie counts, mine shows me that I burn over 8000 calories in less then 24 hour period. I am not THAT active. Even after midnight when it resets, I have watched it and within about 15 minutes it shows I have burned over 150 calories just sitting in a chair watching TV. Do you or anyone know how I can fix this? Garmin has been no help and neither has FirstBeat. Although, I was told by Firstbeat, that in a training mode, it uses different process then normal activity tracking mode. Firstbeat only supports the training mode. I just want this $600 calorie counter to actually do it accurate and not these strange numbers that make no sense to me. I only eat 1500 per day, and according to this watch I should no longer exist with all the weight I would have lost.

Hi Ray, I have an issue with my F3HR. I have the HR sensor enabled but activity tracking disabled. After changing the settings, the HR monitoring worked fine. But then I switched the watch off and on again. And after doing so, the HR monitor is inactive. It only works when I manually start an activity app or disable and enable the sensor again. But the latter works only until the sensor times out. Then it doesn’t switch on again automatically. Can you reproduce this behaviour? Looks like after restarting the watch, the motion sensor is disabled when activity tracking is off. I do not want to automatically track activities but only monitor my HR. Thanks, Frank

Hi, I already did so. The result is the same: first it works (HR but activity tracking off) but after reatart it doesn’t. Meanwhile I think that the bug is that it works in the first place, so that the motion sensor should be disabled as soon as you set AT to off. Luckily there is an app that fixes the issue for me. It’s called RHR and starts the HR monitor on demand and measures for 1 minute. Afterwards the HR sensor remains inactive. So my battery will last even longer. Thanks, Frank

Ray, how did you achieved that relatively good precision of Fenix HR? I am anywhere near that. The optical sensor is quite unreliable being consistently wrong 5, 10 or even more beats. The attached example is the best measurement I had. And it is even worse on running intervals: Fenix just ignores when the HR rises too quickly a whole interval, which makes it useless. I don’t have any special skin like dark, cold or dead:) Can you please describe how did you position the watch and how tough the strap you had or what can influence the accuracy?

Hi Ray, first, I really appreciate the way you do the reviews. It helps tremendously in the process of finding, researching and selecting gear.

I have a few questions about the Fenix3HR, that you or others, might be able to help with. The overall theme is that I really like all the features of the Fenix3HR, those related to training and outdoor activities. But, I do not need the notifications, step counting, 24/7 heartrate data, sleep monitoring and so on, and the “constant bombardement” with the info and data following these, both on the watch and in garmin connect. But as I have come to understand it, these can´t really be turned off or “hidden away” from the in-watch meny? They simply run “behind the scenes” whether you like it or not.. Do you know if this true or is it actually possible to switch these off and away?

However, if this is the laydown at this point, then my next question is, if it would be possible from Garmin to make an update that made it possible to switch these things off, especially the optical 24/7 sensor?

My hope was that it would increase batteri-life and minimize the data-load – making the watch more “clean”, so it would resemble more of an sports and activitieswatch than a smartphone.

You may want to buy Fenix 3 without HR. It does not have 24/7 HR, it is cheaper and as you suggested, it has longer battery life (50 hrs vs 40 hers per Garmin). You can also decide not to use Fenix as step tracker. Although your watch has steps data, your connect does not. Don’t setup notification if you don’t need them; you can limit them to calls only, add SMS, and/or emails or none at all.

Hi Mo, thank you for commenting. I´m replying just to be sure I have understood you correctly. “You can also decide not to use Fenix as step tracker”? With this, do you mean that the counting steps-function can be turned off completely (as in no background counting that sapps battery), or just to the point that I´m hiding the widget showing the counting steps-function? “Although your watch has steps data, your connect does not.” So the data is only accessible from the watch, and won´t end up in Garmin Connect? I´m looking at it primarily because of the optical HR and the multisport-functions, so I´m glad to hear that with the possibility of dissabling the notifications. Just curious, what are your statements based on? Experience from a watch of your own or from manuals/websites/Garmin or other forums? Thanks again.

I Have both Fenix 3HR and forerunner 920XT. Garmin connect allows you only one daily activity tracker to be set up at one time. If you disable it in the connect app, under your specific device setting, your steps counts ( I assume all your other daily activities data including sleep ) won’t show up in their widgets at the web site. They are on your watch. When I run with both watches at the same time, I will see two run activities and twice distances but only Fenix 3 HR steps counts. Therefore, by disabling daily tracking for both, none of the their data will be seen on your connect page. It is not that you are hiding the widget. If you open the widget, you can see the widget without activity. What happens in the back ground, I don’t know.

Hi again Mo, appreciate your comment. If I understood correctly, this means that regarding the widgets, stepcounting and wristheartrate – those can all be disabled via the smartphone app, so they don´t show the data in Garmin Connect. But actually disabelling the recording off the data (and thus saving battery) – “the stuff happening in the background” – is´nt possible? Only the disabelling of the data-transfer and whether it shows on the watchscreen or not? “You can also disable wrist heart rate through the app” – what do you mean exactly? Can the wrist-heartrate-monitoring be made to be switched of when the watch is not in use? Thanks!

Okay, overall it seems that widgets, 24/7HRmonitoring and so on actually can be turned of, leaving me with a more “normal” training watch, without all the extras. Initially I got the impression that you where “stuck” with the features, running round the clock, whether you liked it or not. Maybe a final question: What does the questionmark in the screen (bottom-right) say?

Unfortunately it physically won’t fit. The optical HR sensor bumps out of the back of the case, whereas the quick release kit is physically mounted flush against it. I might do a bet of a demo of what happens if you drill through the quick release kit. Just for fun.

My sensor does not even touch the quick release as it already has a “bump” cut into it. Therefore I doubt it will scratch the sensor. As to the second question, I have yes, but that would place the HR sensor a few millimeters away from contacting the skin due to the quick release mechanism. The HR sensor requires skin contact to “accurately” calculate a value. I can post pictures if requested when I get home for verification.

I’ve looked through the questions so don’t think I am repeating something raised. I really like my F3HR, but one thing i can’t work out is why sometimes when it records activities it gets the time of day wrong (not the actual performance data which is fine). Eg this am (May 1st) I started a swim at 07:55 but it recorded it as 30th April 23:55. At 08:24 (again May 1st) I did a run and it recorded the start time correctly at 08:24 (May 1st).I’ve seen this on other occasions as well. My smartphone and laptop are both set up correctly to the ‘real’ time. Anyone else had this problem?

For non-GPS (eg pool swim) activities the time of day in Garmin Connect is based on the time zone you have configured in Garmin Connect. It’s not obvious, but I had the same issue a couple of years ago and found the answer on the Garmin forums.

I ordered one of these amazing things. But some evil, twisted sadist sent me an email saying that the estimated delivery will be approximately one week, WITH a tracking code. Now what? I am online every 10 minutes trying to see how far my beloved device has progressed, and a good night’s sleep is nowhere in sight.

Hi Ray! About the elevate during swimming… Are you able to double check the swimming HR comparison while wearing a smal piece of neoprene, silicon (swimming cap?) or cloth in the wrist covering the Fenix? Just like wearing a bracer that doesn´t let entering the sunlight to the elevate sensor, while using the indoor running trick. Or did you tried it inside the neoprene before? Thanks a lot

Could be temperature (reaction of skin to water, which is very different compared with air) as well – blood flow in peripheral blood vessels reduces to maintain body temperature and reduce heat loss. Plus all reflection and refraction which will be caused by water.

So far they can not release even a F3HR with “silver” (uncoated) bezel. Which will require just a slightly different BOM for assembly, not a one new part – all from what they already have in production. :)

Yeah, it really comes down to the sensors used. Simply put: Some are better than Garmin’s (on a bunch of levels). Like comparing a college baseball player to a middle school baseball player. Both can catch a pop-fly, but one is better when things get really tough.

Having read through most of the comments, it would appear there are still issues with GPS accuracy, i must admit this def puts me off buying one, it seems everything garmin releases it then takes them about a year to get the bugs fixed, by that time they’ve released a new device

What is the overall consensus about the GPS capabilities on the new Fenix 3 HR? I own both the Fenix 3 and the Fenix 3 HR and the only major difference I am seeing is that the Fenix 3 HR takes much much longer to lock into GPS before being ready.

I’m guessing you’re familiar with the Basis Peak and its sleep-tracking capabilities, which have been independently assessed to be of clinical-grade accuracy. Any thoughts on how Garmin’s sleep offering stacks up? I guess key considerations (for me, at least) would be: does it auto-activate? Does it track REM/deep/light sleep? Does it make the accessing of that data simple? Does it provide reminders/targets? Quite satisfied with the Peak, and certainly find its sleep-tracking to be of great use. Garmin’s would need to be equal or better to persuade me back into the fenix club (had both v1 & v2).

It’s not in the same league from a sleep tracking standpoint. For example, it doesn’t list REM sleep, nor does it leverage the optical HR sensors for sleep. And often, you’ll get large gaps in sleep data.

On the flip side, the Basis Peak largely sucks at sports, so…it’s a bit of a tradeoff.

I actually quite like it, esp. the longer I wear it. Sure, its not a hard-core fitness wearable – but assuming one also carries a phone (which I do, tucked into a just-big-enough pocket in the lumbar region of a pair of Salomon shorts; or tucked into my cycling jersey) then its OK – streams HR which pretty much all that’s needed. Some basic on-screen info – time, calories, cadence – though, notably, no distance. They keep adding capabilities via OTA firmware updates. Basically I find it good enough, though swim capability is pretty useless.

For a recreational multi-sport athlete (sprint tris, weightlifting, hiit, hiking), do you feel the Fenix 3 HR is worthwhile the price premium over the new Vivoactive HR? There seems to be close parity in terms of features, and while the VAHR has a touch screen, the Fenix’s form factor (subjective) is much better.

If you’re a triathlete, I’d say yes in general. Mostly because the VAHR doesn’t do ‘multisport mode’, so that means that in a race you have to start/end each segment. Plus, the VAHR doesn’t do openwater swimming (only pool).

Of course, it’s a huge price jump, so in some ways kinda hard to justify for just those two features. Will depend person to person.

(Note: There’s a crapton of other features the Fenix3 has the Vivoactive doesn’t, but those are the big two for triathletes to be aware of).

I just bought my Fenix 3 HR and used it on a treadmill run last night. After the run, I synced the watch via USB with Garmin Connect and found that the HR data was completely missing from the activity (everything else is ok). During the run, I did scroll to the HR screen and saw the HR which seemed to be working fine. I chose “Run Indoor”. I saw the heart icon was slowly flashing in white and grey and then I presses start. What did I do wrong?

PS. I used FR225 before and it worked fine. Everything was recorded and transferred to Garmin Connect.

What other 3rd party optical options would you suggest? I’ve tried the FR235, but it just doesn’t feel right. I’m considering the F3HR, but have also thought about a FR630 w/ alternate optical. The only thing I don’t like with the 630 is that you need a strap or other device none of which seem to offer 24/7 hr.

I generally find the Scosche and Mio optical sensors to be quite good. I give the slight edge to the Scosche, merely because it has stronger transmission (broadcasting) than Mio typically does. Optical sensor wise, both are pretty solid.

Of course, those are options that require you wear a second device (versus a single integrated device).

Great review! Do you know why Clever Training doesn’t have the Fenix 3 HR on their website? When I click on the link above, it goes to the Fenix 3 (not HR). I’ve searched on the site as well, and it simply isn’t there.

Hi Ray, do you know if the calorie expenditure is affected by the continuous HR sensor on the new Fenix 3 compared to the previous Fenix 3? or the if the movement and steps is what determines the daily calorie burnt? (I am talking about normal activity tracker only not during exercise)? Thanks

Thanks for a great review. I am very pleased to see the broadcast capability for cycling (which I will use the most) but a bit concerned about your comments on accuracy. Do you have any idea why it is inaccurate for cycling but not so much for i.e. running ? Seems to me that running would offer more “movement” of the wrist and thereby the sensor compared to cycling and assume that has something to do with the accuracy as well ?

Has your partnership with clevertraining.com changed? I tried to purchase the Fenix 3 HR with the code, but it said it’s not a valid option with that code. I’m fine to purchase theough them regardless, but if I can save some money in the process.

Apparently they’ve had to change things with Garmin Discounts. I just thought I would pass the below information along.

“Thank you for contacting Clever Training. We recognize that you are reaching out to us due to the VIP program no longer applying a discount on select Garmin items. We apologize for any inconvenience as this is a recent change to our VIP Program in order to comply with pricing restrictions from Garmin.”

As always, great review Ray! One question: Do you know if the other presentations of the Fenix 3 (like rose gold/white, I know, I’m such a girl) will come with the HR sensor in the near future? Thanks!

Great review! Although I have an unusual question. Will this thing still run while being charged on the go? I mean if one was running a 72-hour ultra, can this be charged on the fly using the charging cradle and a portable power bank in my pack? Thanks!

I am a developer. My new Fenix 3 HR is arriving in the post in the next couple of weeks. In spare time, I will try programming apps for this. I would like to know from anyone here, what apps do you miss on this device, what would you love to have?

Lucky for you, Garmin has a tides app on connect iq available for download. Their site is down right now, otherwise I’d post the link here. Looks like Garmin made most of the apps for the Quatix 3 available for download to the fenix 3, etc.

Hello Thanks for your very comprehensive review. I’ve just bought the Fenix 3 HR. I went for a swim today and tried to set the custom length of the pool, but I did it wrong, Andr own i cant seem to change it. I just wondered whether you had any tips for this issue? Thank you

You can’t change it on the watch, but you can change it for Garmin Connect. Upload the fit file to http://www.swimmingwatchtools.com, change the pool size, and re-upload to Garmin Connect. You can also correct styles, and split or merge lengths. (Site suggested by Ray in a previous post)

Great review man. Can you tell me is there any brightness difference between the standard Fenix 3 with the red strap and the latest Fenix 3 HR or it is the same screen. Is the visibility same in all conditions. Thanks and have a good day.

There is a file with the response I got from the official garmin support regarding the difference between the Fenix 3 and the Fenix 3 hr. They say the HR version has more advanced and better looking screen and since I had no chance to compare those two side by side I was wondering what is the more advanced thing because in every picture I`ve seen and in yours and other comparing reviews I see no differenc. Maybe pure commercial.

Best in class review, and engaged discussion, by an order of magnitude. I’m getting back into running following cancer surgery. Fingers crossed I can get back up to 50 milers, maybe (maybe) back to 100s. I know this watch won’t get me there, but it could make the work more fun.

1) As long as it’s ANT+ capable. As long as you don’t have the very original Wahoo Blue HR, it’ll work just fine. All the TICKR straps will work. There would be a little ANT+ logo on the back of it. Note, it won’t transmit Running Dynamics data though. Nor save HR while underwater.

2) They will connect to the Fenix3 while riding, and then yup, upload to Strava.

3) Just the Running Dynamics metrics. I don’t see them as terribly useful.

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I think I will buy the Fenix, the cadence/speed sensors for my bike, and the swim heart rate band. That should cover me for now. If I ever get fit and healthy enough to run, I’ll buy the run band.

Has anyone been able to create a “nap” on their F3HR? I’ve put the activity tracker to sleep, had a siesta, turned sleep off afterwards, but nothing shows in Garmin Connect. Is there something i am missing?

I have read the part of the review about GPS accuracy and what you say about many people having the Fenix and therefore more people with problems overall makes sense to me.

Anyhow, I currently own a 620 and am generally happy with my GPS accuracy, and therefore would like to know how the Fenix 3 HR compares to it in GPS accuracy. You know… expectations and previous experiences/comparisons can be tough to handle when you spend this kind of money!

I just started using my 735; ran with it on one wrist, and a 230 + strap on the other and the wrist HR matched the strap very closely. It’s certainly good enough for me to dispense with the strap except for when I want the advanced running dynamics (I did get the run bundle so I have the RUN strap).

F3HR was just recently released, so they started with top model to get more revenue. I suppose. So a “non-sapphire” F3HR may be released at a later stage. Possibly, close to Fenix 5 launch :)

“Fenix 3 HR which is reviewed here comes ONLY with a Sapphire screen. No metal band” Just couple of days ago Garmin released new D2 Bravo. Same as F3HR, but with titanium bezel and band. (again, they are just trying to maximize the revenue)

I have a question (current using Garmin 910XT but need/want to change as its 3 years old and getting unreliable) , My area of interests seems to be rarely covered by any review including yours (which I have to say a big thinks for depth and objectivity). Its related to Stairmaster (or steppers as some call them). I use the a fitness watch to RUN 1 time a week outdoors (usually 10km ) but more often (as my goal is weight management and I have well shot knees age 54 and 30 years of rugby at 90-100kg) so I do Stairmaster 5 days a week for one hour. Many of these watches have no useful feature except HR monitor on Stairmaster also when using treadmills in Gym (which is what I do when travelling on business and can’t find a Stairmaster as its better for my knows than running. Do you know good watch that works usefully on Stairmaster and on treadmills? ideally built in HR wrist monitor. budget not a concern.

I’ve had mine for a couple days. It’s a keeper for me. The 235 may have sufficed as I’m mostly using it for running but I was curious to try out the advanced running dynamics. Thus far, I’ve only used wrist HR, which seems just fine to me, although there are occasional leaps in resting states, presumably because of the low sample rate.

But a curious observation about the screen: it seems to attract “smudges.” My 230 screen never seemed to get smudgy; always clear. This one, I can’t seem to keep free of smudges. (It also seems to be a little bit smaller than the 230, although that may just be the watch face, not the actual screen.) I wonder if I just got a bad copy, although that seems an unlikely cause for screen “smudginess.” It also arrived with an odd dark blotch on the watch body that disappeared after a few hours.

It would really depend on how much you want accuracy in either conditions.

For the footpod, I find it more accurate, and I’ll often use it when on a treadmill. Some that are trail running also use it for clearer pace. For the Tempe, I rarely use it, because I rarely need to know that temperature that precisely.

Hi DC, I really want to know your opinion on this. I use the footpod only for cadence/pace/speed and for distance I’ve let it on GPS. Because I’ve read that it’s better fort calculating distance. It that right ?

Generally no. While footpod pace can be very accurate, by bet is that if you were to analyze 100 average road runs of various intensities (trails are different), you’ll likely find the variation from footpod distance is more than GPS distance.

Typically GPS accuracy is within 1%, but getting footpod within that range across every pace that you might do on an interval run (with fatigue fade, etc..) can be tough.

Hi Guys any one knows any GOOD (in quality and color matching) for a metal band (could be from Garmin or any other 3rd Party).

I got this answer from Garmin: ” The titanium band is going to be a lighter silver color, this will not be the same color as the watch. The metal band is going to be a very similar color as the watch but the finish on the band is going to look slightly more glossy or shiny than the fenix 3 HR face. ”

so don’t want to pay as much for metal/titanium bands that are extremely expensive that don’t even match the color of the Watch !

What colour do you want to match? Bezel? Because the watch itself is mate out of black plastics. I If you have PVD-coated bezel (not a “silver” version), you need PVD-coated band. But the issue is that you will get scratches quite soon. So from durability and “exterior” point of view, uncoated metal or titanium band is MUCH better. This is why Garmin, I suppose, has not made PVD-coated bands. (and some people wait for a F3HR for the same reason.

Here is a link for a quite common “Chinese” copy of garmin’s band. You can find it from different sellers on eBay or AliExpress. link to ebay.co.uk.

I emailed Garmin support about the potential of releasing the new D2 Bravo titanium band for sale and they said “at this time that watch band is not available for purchase. It is likely that the band will be available for sale in the future but we do not have a time frame currently.” That band uses DLC and should be more wear-resistant than the PVD coated bands like the one Dmitry links to above. I have that band and the coating started to wear within a couple weeks with regular wear. When Garmin releases the black DLC titanium band for separate purchase, it should look good, and be resistant to wear. Hopefully they release it sooner rather than later.

“should be more wear-resistant than the PVD coated bands like the one Dmitry links to above” That one is uncoated titanium (at least, this is in description and I’ve read its review, where it was uncoated titanium). But I see that they say about light and dark version, so I suppose dark one may be coated.

In terms of DLC. Titanium is quite easy to scratch, so looking at my other metal bands, I don’t think that DLC on titanium will be able to do much work.

I´ve got the Garmin original dark metal band and it is not coated like the dark bezel. After 2 month of daily wear (including running, biking, swimming, hiking … and also grass cutting :-) I´m still a happy person, no scratches on the bezel as well as on the band ;-) BTW, on e-bay I found the b.c. link, but it is suspiciously cheap…

I just ordered the Fenix 3 HR, and I am exited to receive it. However, I’ve just looked at previous release dates for the Fenix 2/3 and I’m worried that the Fenix 4 could be coming this year. Has there been any news on a Fenix 4, or even rumors?

Great review, as always! Have you heard if new functionallity is comming to the “hot keys section”? In particular, I’d like to have a hot key to turn on/off “Auto lap”. E.g. long-press Lap button to enable/disable Auto lap. As it is today, I have to go down a lot of sub-menus to do this. I switch Auto lap on and off quite a lot. E.g. I want it on for long runs, but off for things as intervals (where I press Lap manually). If you haven’t heard anything, could you please submit it as a proposal? I think you have a lot more leverage than us mere mortals. :) Thanks! /Richard, from Sweden

Hey guys / Ray, can somebody help on the below inquiries please for a Fenix3 HR?

i’m trying to add the steps field (steps per lap) in the data screens during running, and i don’t see it in the list of fields amongst all the categories (time, pace, other, etc.). Any way one can do this please?

Is it possible for one to look at the watch mode during an activity (viz. running)? I can go into setting, but can’t seem to go into watch mode (a.k.a. letting the activity run on the background while having the watch mode on).

I understand that the pace is smoothed to show in 5 sec intervals. I know that the closest thing to actual pace is the ‘lap pace’. However, is there any way of getting the actual current pace on the data screen? If data fields, does someone know of a data screen that gives this please?

I have dark skin (5 out of 6) as I’m African-American. I’m having issues getting a quick and accurate reading (takes anywhere from 5-10 mins when I start an activity) from the optical HR and I’ve read it might have to do with dark skin (and/or tattoos which I don’t have).

Yeah, typically HR straps are considered of higher priority. So by default it’ll connect to that. Though it’s odd that it was waiting for it. There’s a setting called ‘Auto’ for the optical HR sensor, so do ensure that’s set to Auto, versus something else.

“I find it interesting that the chest strap takes priority over the wrist optical HR.” Chest strap will provide more accurate data, so it has higher priority.

” It was because I had a chest strap set to connect and there wasn’t one so it was waiting for it to connect. ” Strange… If you there is no signal from Ant+ strap, it should have switched to built-in optical sensor.

“optical HR and I’ve read it might have to do with dark skin” Well, this is down to optics. Darker skin is harder to penetrate with the light. Some manufacturers even added an extra LED of different colour for darker skin tones. (and it consumes slightly more power with darker skin). You can always try to move the sensor to an area with lighter skin, e.g. inside part, ideally – straight over main blood vessels (this will make work easier for Optical HR).

I am not so sure. Today after HIIT-like warm up (in Zone 4 in general) I immediately started sport climbing. I was pretty sure that HR strap had priority over optical HR (optical Hr is set on auto) but while sweating and pushing very hard I noticed that my heart rate was surprisingly low (ca 80-90 hpm). I looked behind and I noticed green light while still wearing HR strap. So my guess is that F3 was collecting data form optical HR which was corrupted by my sweating. So I ended my session and started once again without optical HR working. That time everything looked normal (my heart rate was as usual in those circumstances).

I’m thinking to buy my first Garmin and I would like your recommendation regards indoor activities, I’m traveling very often and some time a Run indoor and make cycling indoor, my question Fenix 3 HR or Vivosmart HR+ , have the capability to measure these activities. Of course when I have time I like more tu Run Outdoor and make MTB, and I guess for the comments Fenix 3HR is better than VivosmartHR+ in MTB sport.

Hi Ray! how are you? I hope that very good! I’m Julian de Rosario, Argentina. First I am very grateful for your comments about the Fenix 3 HR that reaches me on June 1. I have a problem, buy fenix 3 HR with Varia Smart bike Headlight, 2 Varia Tail Light and remote control, but note that are not compatible with the firmware Fenix 3hr. The question is … you have any idea if future will be intelligent lights compatibility with garmin? From already thank you very much!

Hey Ray, excellent review man. Just wondering if there is any way to create and edit activity profiles via garmin connect or does it all have to be done on the watch? Thanks again for the review, really helpful!

Hi Ray, thanks for the review. I bought the watch and am loving it so far having had it for abt 2 weeks. All my runs have been quite precise and the data seems quite detailed. I wanted your thoughts on an issue i faced yesterday. During a 9 miler, for the first time the GPS seemed to have wonked out for the 7th mile (this section being through high rises in downtown here in Toronto) logging the mile in abt 5:14, which seems way off than even my fastest interval split. I’m hoping this is a one time bug in the GPS signals and NOT of the watch, coz i haven’t had an issue at all in other workouts. Please let me know your valuable thoughts. Thanks.

Sorry abt the inclusion of the text “How’s it going dude. Wanted to share some good news with you.” in the message. It was a mistype, rather an excerpt from another email, and i’m not sure how notepad included it in this section, when i was drafting a note to your blog. Please assist. Much appreciate it. Thanks.

Have you got any idea if the optical HR is turned off and a HR strap used instead, will this increase the battery life more on par with the non hr model or 920xt? I take longer than 16 hours to complete an IM!

Hi Ray, it’s my first time writing here so I’d like to thank you first for all the great work you’re doing, really appreciated! And here goes my question…I’ve recently acquired Fenix 3. I used to have a FR 305 and then Suunto Ambit 2S. A few weeks ago I went back to Garmin (needed muchlonger battery life)…I went running the first time (a run where I needed to keep certain pace during different segments) and what was my surprise that the actual pace shows total bullshit…, even in open space the pace goes tens of seconds up and down even if I’m running constant pace. Today I went on my 4th run with it and still the same…(and it is not a small discrepancy…i.e. running at 6 min/km it shows me 6:40, in a few seconds goes to 6:25, then to 5:35!!! then back to 6:30, 7:40…). I’m very unhappy about this…have you also noticed this problem? Or anybody else here…? Thanks…

Hello. Thanks for all your nice reviews. I have just one question, i use two phones one for work and one for cycling, would the fenix 3 be able to switch from one to the other phone without having to pair it again all the time? … anyone tried? … I have not yet bought the watch … many thanks. Marco

I am considering the Garmin Vivosmart HR and the Fenix3HR. I know there is a significant price and feature difference, and I want to use the watch for running, cycling, indoor cycling, general fitness tracking, etc. But I also want to use the watch for hiking. Will the Vivosmart HR be able to track basic information (e.g.distance and altitude climbed, the route taken, and an ability to get me back along the same route I followed)? Or is the Fenix3HR so much superior for hiking that it is worth the extra $350?

Any idea of when the Fenix4 would come out? And what could it include? Garmin add the HR monitor , but the the rest of the Fenix is more than a year old, no? I am expecting them to launch the version 4 for the holidays.

For 500 they need to do a great job in making it a smartwatch … having some connection with iPhone and Android besides alerts. I liked what Tag Heuer did… have a nice looking traditional watch that transforms into a smartwatch . Fenix does it a little bit … but is not outstanding.

Also I am would like to understand more about the HR hardware for swim. Can eventually the Fenix, with all the updates needed in its software, be able to work during a swim? Or would a change in hardware be required? How does Suunto accomplished this?

This was already discussed several times in other comments on this page – just do a quick read through them. E.g. there are some confirmations that Garmin will skip Fenix 4 name and will jump to Fenix 5 or something else (due to some cultural issues around 4 in China). In terms of dates, I think it is most likely to be somewhere next year. But don’t forget that they have not finished full roll-out of F3HR in all markets yet :)

In terms of smart-watch – what specifically do you mean/want? It has notifications, can control music, support apps (lots of apps). Do you want it to become a “market general” smart watch that works 1-2 days? :)

“Can eventually the Fenix, with all the updates needed in its software, be able to work during a swim?” I don’t think that even Garmin would be able to answer this question :) (and there is a solution – 2 different HR-straps for swimming)

” I did several searches for Fenix4, Fenix 4, Fenix+4 but got nothing back”

I meant – on this page, in comments above. Just press Ctrl+F, type “fenix 4” and read what was discussed here, in comments to this article. Or even just better go through all comments on this page, as there is lots of useful info.

Love your reviews as always! Keep finding you have done reviews of many “gadgets” I am looking to buy,

And this time It has come to the Garmin Fenix 3 HR…

It would be nice to have a nice watch as well as the 24×7 HR monitoring that I am keen to try out.

HOWEVER – can the watch store that data and “sync” it with the app on occasion – or does it need to have a constant connection to get the 24×7 monitoring? Since I need to turn my BT off on my smartphone from time to time – I would like the watch to be “self sufficient” on the matter. Is this possible?

“can the watch store that data and “sync” it with the app on occasion” Yes, sure. It has built-in memory.

“or does it need to have a constant connection to get the 24×7 monitoring?” This watch works as independent device, collecting data either from built-in or connected sensors. BT is optional if yo, e.g. need notifications from your phone.

24hrs is just an example (you can pick a number that pleases you). The main question was if it transfer all the data to the smartphone/pad app to view stats and graphs once connected again (just as it have been connected all along)? :)

Hi! Regarding the table of features in the review, after a few weeks of cycling under various conditions, I got a pleasant surprise. The watch alerted me with “New cycling VO2max detected.” So it does do cycling vo2max estimation.

Thanks for the great review/comparison in these watches. I do hit work out at the gym and I’m a runner. I want to buy the fenix 3 hr to track my calories burn and my running without using a heart rate band .. Is this too much watch for me or would it be just perfect for what I’m looking for? I thanks in advance :)

Hi Miriam. I use Fenix HR for nearly everything since more than a month. Once I used a Fitbit Surge. Fenix HR is VERY GOOD in capturing steps, walking and heart rate 24h/7d, but during activities in the gym, the optical heart rate is VERY imprecise (btw always better than Fitbit). For example, during a weight session at the gym, with WHR my average was 80bpm. With the band, it was 115. Same kind of training, same exercises, same day of the week, same reps and series. On cardio training WHR is about a 5-7% lower and less reactive than heart rate. So, if you want a generic evaluation of your caloric burning, Fenix HR is absolutely the best product. If you want something more precise, I suggest you to buy also a heart rate band (I bought HRM-TRI for gym, running, cross fit, bike and open water swimming, and HRM SWIM for swimming pool). Regards.

Awesome review. I’m looking at the HR vs the regular Fenix3 (sapphire titanium). Thing is my main competitive sport is rowing. I’ve used a mio and a Fitbit Charge HR and find the HR a little unreliable. It’s probably due to the use of the wrist/arm action in the process of rowing. Any comments on tests in rowing athletes? I’m tempted to stick to the Fenix3 with HR chest strap, but would love your feedback. Cam

I think you made an error on this sentence: “A prime example being this run from a few weeks ago, where the Fenix3 HR shortly after starting went for a swim around some 8-10 story buildings.”. Maybe you wanted to say biking or running around some 8-10 buildings?

trying to decide between fenix hr and vivoactive hr. my main activities are mountain bike and walking. i’m pretty hard on stuff, plus i have poor eyesight. Lots of reviews on the vivo say the display sucks. haven’t heard much either way on the fenix. also was worried about durability. I’m pretty hard on stuff and wondering if the vivo would be more prone to breaking?

Great review Ray, As an avid sailor who loves the outdoors as well as biking, the quatix 3 seemed like a perfect fit for me. However, the only thing stopping me from getting it, (besides the price:) ), is that fact that it doesn’t have an optical hr sensor option. Any thoughts on whether they will do the same to the quatix 3 as they did to the fenix 3 and add optical hr? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I think it is just question of time. E.g. they just recently added D2 Bravo Titanium, witch is F3HR version for aviation. With Optical HR. And they are starting rolling out the “silver” version of F3HR (the one that I was waiting for since beginning of F3HR sales).

From the other side – am I right that the difference between F3HR, D2 Bravo Titanium and Aquatix is just in firmware and extra apps? (and extra cost for marketing)

I just want to ask two questions, I’ve recently upgraded to the Fenix 3 HR from the standard Fenix3 but cannot see the HR activity screen in Garmin Connect even though the Fenix3 is paired and set as the active activity tracker.

The second issue I have is the disparity in sleep data shown between the Fenix3 and my fitbit. I’m not saying the fitbit is more accurate necessarily, (or that either is terribly precise regarding sleep data) but they aren’t even close in what they record. For example, last night fitbit reported a total of 4hr min sleep (3 x awake 17 x restless) whereas Garmin reported 8 Hr 31 min sleep (2.23 hrs deep, 5.53hrs light, 15 min awake) My question is, with such a variance, which would you think it’s likely to be more accurate?

I do see HR data on the HR widget. I just noticed after taking my watch off it still was reading my HR even though it was on the able for about 30sec – 1 min. I would have thought it would cut out straight away. But regarding the missing HR data on the app, I’m just wondering whether I should delete Garmin Connect from the iPhone and reinstall it

Regarding sleep, hard to say. I was in bed for 8 hours and both the garmin and the fitbit HR were closer in that regard. However, Fitbit basically has me awake for half that time whereas Garmin is reading I was sleeping for the full time.